A Monster of a Problem
by Vector Z
Summary: They say to defeat your enemy, you must become your enemy... but for unfortunately for Jeremie and a certain Krabe, that saying is about to be taken far too literally...
1. Chapter 1: A bit of History

Disclaimer: I don't own Code Lyoko. I also don't own Beetoven's 5th symphony, _War and Peace, _or the moon, but that's probably besides the point.

You can tell who is speaking by the bold lettering at the begining of each section. POV Point of View

Chapter 1: A Bit of History

**Yumi's POV **

Sometimes, I look back at this whole incident, and I just want to laugh.

Sometimes, though, I look back and I want to just smack myself for being so stupid. After it happened, I looked through a lot of history books, looking to see if anything similar had happened anywhere else. And, believe it or not, I found... nothing!

Oh well. I may not have been looking hard enough. One thing I learned, though, from history as well as this incident, is that sometimes people forget that their enemies are people also. They may want to inflict bodily harm on you, they may not believe the same things as you, they may not look like you, but they're still people. When armies went to war, men who might have been able to be friends stabbed at each other just because the other one was stabbing back. Just because countries hate each other doesn't mean its individuals have to.

Don't believe me? Maybe I'd better tell you the story of this incident, then. It isn't really all about me, but I'm in it, and my friends were in it. I'll pass the story on to them later.

It all started about a month after Xana escaped from Lyoko. I was heading for Jeremie's room, and I was seriously nervous about having to bring him the news.

You see, Xana hadn't attacked. We had no idea where he was, and what he was plotting, or how long it would take for him to stop plotting and go forward with his plans. Needless to say, we were a bit paranoid. Aelita was one of the most paranoid of all. She worked feverishly at the supercalculator at every chance she got, trying to find Xana with the computer, even when Jeremie told her that it would never work.

She did find something else, though. There was a time when Jeremie got possessed by Xana, just after we found Franz Hopper's diary, and we decided that Jeremie would need a training session on Lyoko to make him immune to possession. It seemed to work, seeing as Xana never attempted it again. But what Aelita found suggested that, in fact, the immunity eventually wore off if the person didn't go to Lyoko fairly often.

And so, all of us met up, without Jeremie, and agreed that he needed another training session on Lyoko. We drew straws to see who was the unlucky soul who had to tell him. Me? I got the short straw. Go figure.

And so, now, I was looking up at his blue, dorm-room door, getting ready for a tentative knock. Jeremie had sworn that he would never go to Lyoko again after that one training session. He was not going to be a happy camper when I told him.

I raised my fist to knock, and that was when Jeremie opened the door, right into my face. I recall stumbling backward, rubbing my nose.

"Ow! Jeremie, that hurt!" I exclaimed.  
"Oops." Jeremie said. I supposed I couldn't blame him; after all, he didn't know I was in front of the door. "You okay, Yumi?" He continued.  
"Yeah, I'm fine." I said. I took a deep breath, deciding to get it over with as soon as possible. "Jeremie, listen. Aelita's been doing some research,"  
"Yes?" Jeremie was smiling at me in the way good friends will smile at one another in each other's company.  
"And she thinks that you need to go to Lyoko again."

Jeremie's smile fell off his face as though it was a faulty Mr. Potato Head part.  
"WHAT!" He shouted, causing me to cringe. "WHY!"

I told him why.

"Well, you can forget it! I told you I'm never going back there!" He said angrily.  
"C'mon, Jeremie!" I pleaded. "We don't even know if Xana needs to activate towers anymore to possess people! What if it will be a _permenent_ possession?"  
Jeremie groaned. "I'll... think about it, okay?"

Translation: I will not think about it. My mind's already made up.

Jeremie walked off down the hallway. He was probably trying to make it look like he wanted to go get some lunch, or something, but I knew he just wanted to get away from me.

I said the magic words. No, not "please" and "thank you". These ones.

"Aelita's worried about you, Jeremie." I said.  
He froze. slowly, he turned around.  
"Huh?" He said.

It was fairly obvious to everyone that Jeremie had a huge crush on Aelita, and vice versa. After all, she had kissed him right in the schoolyard just after that incident with the "romantic" polymorphic clone. That had quickly dispelled rumors that Jeremie liked Heidi Klinger and Aelita liked Nicolas Poliakoff.

"She's worried about you, Jeremie! Think about what this must be like for her! Xana's whereabouts are unknown, he could strike at any time, and his target could be you!"  
I walked right up to him and bent down, putting my face just a few inches from his. "Xana will make you hurt her. She will see only hate in those eyes of yours."

Jeremie gulped. But I knew I had struck home. He would never do anything to hurt his princess.  
"Alright then." He said reluctantly. "For tomorrow, then."


	2. Chapter 2: Training Day

Chapter 2: Training Day 

**Ulrich's POV**

The next day was Sunday, I remember, because we didn't have school; a perfect day for getting Jeremie in shape on Lyoko.

We headed to the factory right after breakfast. I was left with the ridiculous task of literally dragging Jeremie along, because, supposedly, his feet hadn't gotten the message that they were supposed to go to Lyoko, and kept trying to move the rest of his body elsewhere.

At least his mouth wasn't complaining. As I dragged him silently along, I said, "Hey, Yumi, how'd you get him to come?"  
"I said the magic words." She said with a wink.  
"'please' and 'thank you'?" I said, raising an eyebrow.  
"No, silly, not those ones, the other ones," she laughed.  
"Oh, THOSE ones." I said, my voice dripping with recognition, to disguise the fact that I still had no idea what she was talking about. I never really did find out how she did it, that is, until she told the first part of the story yesterday.

And so, one sewer walk, bridge run, rope swing, and elevator ride later, Odd, Jeremie and I were standing in the scanner room. I swear, Jeremie looked like he thought he was going to the gallows, as opposed to going to a place had sent his friends plenty of times before.

"Alright, guys," Aelita's voice said, coming down from the loudspeakers in the ceiling, "you can get in now."

The arrangement was simple. Aelita operated the supercalculator, Odd and I conducted his training, and Yumi stayed behind so she could be transferred if there was an emergency. We got into the scanners, and then, seconds later, we were dropping 20 feet to the ground into the desert region.

Jeremie landed on his face. Figures.

Jeremie had designed his own outfit. He looked like some sort of futuristic ninja/assassin, in my opinion. The armor he wore was supposed to make it so that lasers hitting him would only take away half as many life points as usual, and his special ability was to create an electric shield that could protect everyone near him. The massive defensive power, though, meant that all he could have as a weapon was a simple laser pistol. Oh well, it's not like he came to Lyoko very often.

I once said that Jeremie looked ridiculous on Lyoko. He actually doesn't look all that ridiculous while standing still. You should see him fight, though. _That_ is ridiculous.

Odd helped him up.  
"Alright, Jeremie," he said, "This is gonna be simple. We're gonna have a little race, you against me and Ulrich to the nearest tower. Think you can handle it?"  
Jeremie nodded numbly. I think he was still going through environment shock.

The three of us lined up.  
"On your mark," Odd said, "Get set... PINEAPPLE!"  
Odd burst out laughing.  
"Odd! That's not funny!" Jeremie shouted at him.  
"He's right, Odd." I said, clearly annoyed.  
"Sorry, sorry. GO!"

**Tetrox's POV**

I was dreaming about flowers when the alarm came.

I had never seen a real flower before, but I had heard about them through the internet. They seemed a little like the trees in the forest region. It was a good dream though. Perhaps you can't imagine a several ton mechano like me to be frolicking through fields of green, with a few butterflies flitting around and birds chirping, but I can.

Oh, sorry. I hope I haven't been confusing you. I'd better introduce myself. I was known to my comrades-at-arms as Unit K-129, although I later was renamed Tetrox. I am a mechano, 3rd class. The humans have nicknamed us "Krabes."

Anyway, the alarm came blaring out over the holoscreen in my den, jolting me awake. I scrambled out of my bed of virtelm leaves and clanked over to the screen, which showed that there was an emergency meeting. At the time, this could only mean one thing.

I scrabbled out of my tube, pushing aside the hydraulic, circular door, and into one of the many spherical common rooms, which usually have little more in them but entrances to the living tubes of other mechanos. I went over to the entrance of the common room, and crawled downward into the tunnel.

Supposedly, our home looks something like the ant nests of Earth. I wasn't sure if I believed it back then, but I certainly remember scuttling through a maze of dimly-lit tunnels toward the great hall, one I knew by heart. It isn't a pointless maze; every tunnel leads somewhere, be it another common room, a storage room, a nursery, something else, or simply an exit.

The great hall, though, as you can imagine, is the most important room in the colony. It isn't decorated very elaborately, but it is big enough to fit every mechano in the colony in it at once. It is dominated by a huge holoscreen, and right now it was showing a map of the desert region of Lyoko.

K-250, the leader of Nesta Krabea, stepped up onto the raised platform, and 249 trios of glass eyes, belonging to the entire current population of the nest besides him, turned to look at him.

"Brothers and Sisters!" He began, his voice booming in a language of clicks and whistles that no human could understand. "You know why you have been called here!"

There was a chorus of shouts from many of the mechanos in the crowd.

"The great defilers, the two legged ones, those who would destroy our home, have intruded upon Mother Lyoko once more. The Betrayer has left us, but that does not mean we will be helpless in the face of our enemies! Once more, a new squad will be chosen to fight the monsters!"

Oh, K-250. Don't tell him I said this, but he may be good at speeches, but he can't fight to save his life.

"I have met with the leaders of the other nests and hives, and we have decided that squad 352 will be sent out to fight!"

I remember thinking: Wait, that's MY squad!

"Units K-129 and K-147! Leave the nest and meet up with B-451, B-356, and F-723 outside! Go to the transfer chamber and be ready to be sent from Sector 5 to the Desert. We wish you luck!"


	3. Chapter 3: The Switch

Chapter 3: The Switch 

**Tetrox's POV**

Metra and I (Metra is the new name we eventually gave to K-147) left the nest through one of the exits, and outside, into a gigantic chamber that takes up nearly the entire bottom half of Sector 5. It contains the nests and hives of all the species of mechanos, as well as the various fields where we grow our crops. We need to eat too, believe it or not, and no, I don't have time to tell you how we do it right now.

"Where are they?" Metra asked. She was definitely impatient to get going.

Metra is a machina, meaning, yes, that she is female. Don't _ever_ refer to a mechano or machina as an "it" to their face. Did I mention that I am hopelessly in love with her?

"Dunno, K-147. They should be here by now... wait... I hear a buzzing..."

F-723, known as Alcor later, became a pinpoint in the distance, coming from one of the hives on the ceiling of the chamber, and quickly flew down to us. The Frelion would have saluted, if there was anything for him to salute with.

"F-723, reporting for duty!" he said.

We heard some scuttling, and then we saw a pair of Bloks moving toward us. B-451 the mechano and B-356 the machina, or, later, Ezlo and Anda.

"Great, the gang's all here!" I said happily, as soon as we were all together. "Let's go kick some tail!"  
"Only one of them has a tail, K-129." Alcor said.  
"Whatever."

**Jeremie's POV**

I look back on this day, sometimes, and I really wonder how Yumi convinced me to do this. I mean, I do know how she convinced me, but I wish she hadn't.

Right now, Odd and Ulrich, were, quite literally, a mile ahead of me. They were distant green and purple pinpoints on the horizon, heading for the glowing blue tower.

"C'mon, Jeremie!" Aelita's voice shouted. "You can do better than that!"

I tried to run faster. Instead, I tripped, and fell flat on my face. Again. I could _hear _Yumi shaking her head.

"I win, Jeremie!" I heard Odd call out.  
"Great..." I mumbled.

**Aelita's POV**

I was trying to stop myself from bursting out laughing as Odd boasted, when an ominous beeping came from the supercomputer.

"What the heck?" Yumi said.

I looked at the screen.

"Oh no.." I said. "Monsters!"

**Jeremie's POV**

I heard Aelita's exclamation, and then I heard the sound of something virtualizing behind me. I turned around, slowly, and saw five red wire frames form in midair. Two Krabes and two Bloks dropped to the ground, while a Frelion stayed in midair. I got the feeling that they were glaring at me menacingly.

I know. I should have gotten out my gun and started blasting them. I've faced clouds of gas, horrible specters, possessed rats, hornets, and humans, and even a clone of myself that was Xana's very incarnation in the ghost channel. So why did facing his monsters make me scream and run as fast as I could in the other direction?

I don't know. All I knew at the time was that they were chasing me, and they were firing at me. I was dimly aware of Odd and Ulrich running up to meet me, and then I tripped again.

**Odd's POV**

Ulrich and I ran up to the monsters, which skidded to a halt in front of us. I quickly fired a few arrows at one of the Bloks, but it tilted its head to avoid them. Then it started firing, and I had to put up my shield to block them.

Ulrich was blocking laser blasts from the Frelion with his sword, while Jeremie was trying to crawl away. He got up and then started running for the tower.

"Jeremie, you coward! Come back and fight!" I shouted. But the distraction was enough for the other Blok to shoot me in the chest. I flew backward, right into Ulrich, and we tumbled over in a heap.

"Hold on, guys! I'm sending you Yumi!" Aelita called out. A little later, Yumi dropped to the ground, and immediately launched a fan at one of the Krabe's heads. It ducked, and then charged toward her, lasers firing.

The other Krabe was running toward Jeremie, who was still running for the tower. Which was, unfortunately,right near the edge of a cliff. What was at the bottom of the cliff, you ask? The digital void, what else?

Ugh. I thought he was supposed to be the smart one.

**Jeremie's POV**

I reached the edge of the platform, panting, and fell to my knees. I thought, why were there monsters on Lyoko if Xana wasn't on it anymore? The tower was just a short distance away, and I knew I'd be safe there. Then I heard the clanking behind me.

**Tetrox's POV**

I strode over to the human triumphantly, anticipating the kill. He was obviously scared, shaking at the knees like no one's business. We knew from the old master that draining away their life points would simply send them back to their own world, but that sending them into the digital void would get rid of them for good. It would only take one shot to send him over the edge.

He pulled out a puny-looking laser gun, and then there was a brief sensation of pain. My internal sensors told me he'd missed his target, and the damage was a measly five life points. I shot at him, and then he was careening over the edge.

I didn't anticipate him grabbing one of my claws.

That meant that, instead of staying safely on solid ground, I was pulled over the edge with him.

**Jeremie's POV**

I remember thinking: This is the end. Then the Krabe lashed out one of it's back claws, and we hung there, on the edge, dangling over the digital sea. I had to wonder what was going through its mind, if it had a mind.

It was dangling by one of its back claws, and I was dangling by one of its front claws. The creature's three glass eyes met my two, and it started to charge its lasers again.

"AELITA! HELP!" I remember shouting.

**Aelita's POV**

I was monitoring the battle between Yumi, Odd, Ulrich, and the other monsters when Jeremie's shout came. Neither side was getting the best of the other, and all of them were still alive, so I had completely forgotten about him!

I saw the situation he was in, and, frantically, I started up the devirtualization process.

I didn't see at the time that I had hit a wrong key.

**Jeremie's POV**

I was staring up at the Krabe, which was getting ready to fire, when it happened. All the colors became inverted, and then my vision was swirling. I held onto the Krabe's leg as hard as I could, and then even the feeling of holding on was twisted out of recognition. There were feelings of intense, unbearable vertigo, and I felt like I wanted to be sick.

The next thing I knew, the colors were normal, but the feeling of holding on was now a feeling of being held on to.

And I was staring at myself.

Then, before I knew it, my body, which had a look of utter confusion on its face, devirtualized before my very eyes. I heard some kind of gibberish coming out of the sky, and then the sounds of battle faded. I had a feeling of dangling from something by a back foot, and then claws were reaching down, under my belly, pulling me up.

My vision faded to black.


	4. Chapter 4: A Monster of a Problem

Chapter 4: A Monster of a Problem 

**Jeremie's POV**

_"Is he okay?"  
"We won't know for a while, the mechanic said. It looks like the human got a shot at him, but it wasn't anything serious. It was mostly the shock that made him pass out."  
"Passing out, at the thought of falling into the digital void? There are less honorable ways to die in combat than that. Allowing yourself to get hit by a teammate, for example."  
"Honor has nothing to do with it, B-451. Anyway, he didn't fall in, and that's that."_

I awoke to voices, unfamiliar ones, seemingly coming from a short distance away, behind a wall. When I opened my eyes, I found myself in total darkness, except for a faint ring of light nearby. I think I was lying in something soft.

I tried to remember what had been happening to me. I remembered the fight with the monsters, hanging over the edge, seeing myself devirtualize through the Krabe's eyes, and then... nothing. How had I wound up here?

I got to my feet. All four of them.

Something was seriously, seriously, wrong.

I put one foot forward, and heard a metallic clanking sound, one that was horribly familiar. The feeling of shape was... wrong, somehow. Determined to find out what was happening before I went mad, I scrambled toward the ring of light, and pushed against something hard, which gave way to my push. Before I knew it, I was stumbling into the light.

When you wake up after fainting, you do not want the first people you see to be a bunch of monsters. Two Bloks, a Frelion, and a Krabe turned to look at me, and I could of sworn they had expressions of surprise and relief on their unchanging faces as they saw me.

"K-129! You're alright!" the Krabe cried with delight, and threw itself at me with what I would have called an embrace if it were human.

I can safely say that about a million questions were pouring into my head at that point. Had the monsters gotten smaller? Or had I gotten bigger? Both seemed impossible. And how come I was able to understand them? I was vaguely aware that the monster had definitely not spoken in English.

The room I was in was spherical. There were lots of big alcoves around the walls, including the one I had come out of, and there were Krabes in them, doing who knows what, and also some others on what passed for the floor in the spherical room. It was certainly not any place I had seen before, but for now, it didn't seem like I was in too much danger, so I relaxed.

Then I remembered getting up on four feet, and relaxation drained away like sand in an hourglass. Slowly, I looked down, at two long, red, spindly claws jutting out in front of me, and behind me too, probably. I stared into the Krabe's glass eyes to see my reflection, and saw three eyes in the middle of a squat, red shell stare back.

You know that feeling you get when you have just heard from a teacher that the principal wants to see you, and he also tells you that he sounds really _angry?_ It's the feeling you get when you are in big, _big_ trouble. It's also the feeling you get when you have just woken up to discover that you are a Krabe.

The Krabe in front of me looked concerned. I _still _didn't know how I could see any emotion in that face.

"Um... you are okay, right, K-129?" said the Krabe in front of me.  
"K-129... is that my name?" I asked, slowly and carefully. The Krabe looked taken aback.  
"Why, yes, of course!"  
"And... who are you? Where am I?"  
"Uh... c'mon silly, it's me, K-147! And we're in Nesta Krabea! Don't you remember me?" The monster sounded frightened now.  
"Uh oh..," said the Frelion, teasingly. "If he doesn't remember the name of his little crush, then something really is wrong."

My thoughts took an abrupt turn from frightened street to bewilderment avenue. I was supposed to_ like_ this Krabe? But I didn't say anything.

"Oh no... He didn't get angry and deny it!" said the Frelion, without an ounce of teasing in his voice, it all having been replaced by true concern. "Something really is wrong!"  
"B-356!" shouted one of the Bloks. "Get the mechanic, quickly!"

The other Blok scuttled over to the hole in the floor and hopped in, while the rest of them stared at me in true concern, an emotion I didn't even existed for monsters. I got the impression that if they had hands, they would be wringing them.

I was in for a long week.

**Tetrox's POV**

_The feeling of falling apart, bit by bit...  
The feeling of being pulled through a long, long tube...  
Seeing lights flash around me as I flew, in what looked like the inside of a wire...  
The feeling of being put back together again...  
And then finding myself in a metal tube, feeling somehow smaller than before..._

The tube lit up, and then opened up. I fell down on my face, onto the floor, and felt as though all of my energy had been sucked out with some instrument designed specifically for that purpose. But that doesn't mean it didn't come back to me when I saw the two humans running toward me.

I sprang up, concentrated my energy into my eyes, let it build up for a second...

And then utterly failed to fire any kind of laser whatsoever.

"Jeremie, are you okay? Why are you staring at us like that?" said the one on the right, urgently. I recognized it. It was the one that had had that sword, although it didn't look like it had it right now. It looked like its... second layer of skin... what did they call them? Oh right, clothes... had changed too.

The room I was in was very big, with three metal tubes in it, connected to the ceiling by wires. I had just come out of one, and it looked like the two humans had come out of the other two. It occurred to me that for some reason I was able to understand them. They had spoken to each other during the battle, but only to each other, and their language sounded like gibberish to us.

"Get back, humans!" I shouted. "My lasers might not be working right now, but that doesn't mean I won't fight back!"  
"Hey, what is this?" said the one that fired those arrows. "Has he gone mad or what?"  
"Jeremie, it's us! Calm down!" said the swordsman. "We left the Krabe and the rest of them back on Lyoko!"

_Back on Lyoko?_

It occurred to me that there was something seriously wrong. This place... it wasn't any place in the desert, nor was it in the mountains, the glaciers, or the forests. It wasn't in Sector 5, and it certainly wasn't in the nests. That meant that I had left Lyoko! Plus, the humans were trying to reason with me, instead of just attacking me!

Something else was wrong too. Before I had towered over the humans, and now it seemed like I was the shorter one. Also, I felt the pressure from the ground from only two of my limbs. The other two were... hanging loose. No Krabe had _ever _stood upright. Standing upright was a feat only rarely allowed to the most elite of the Tarantulas, and it was an abomination for anyone else to try it.

I looked down.

I could see a pair of flat feet, rising up into a pair of straight legs, which joined together to form a torso, and I also saw the two other limbs, with... _fingers_ at the ends of them. I knew then I didn't have too look any farther to see what I was.

A square door on one end of the room opened, and two more humans stepped out. One was the one with the fans, and the other was the tower-deactivator. I was definitely in trouble now.

"I went up to get Aelita, just like you asked, Ulrich," said the fan thrower. "What's going on?"  
"Jeremie's been blabbing about his lasers not working properly and being willing to fight us," said the swordsman, turning to face the newcomer.  
"Yeah, he's been staring at us really weirdly, too." said the arrow firer.

At that point, none of them were facing me. I saw my chance. I let out a loud war-cry, scrunched my fingers in on themselves, and lunged at the nearest one, the swordsman. It turned around in alarm just as one of my front limbs collided with its face. It wasn't as sharp as a Krabe claw, but it did the damage.

"Grab him!" The arrow firer shouted. The arrow firer and the fan thrower snatched my front limbs, then forced me against the wall. I struggled nastily, flailing, but they wouldn't let go, and I had discovered too late that this body had hardly any ability to fight. I was enraged as an open Megatank, as the expression goes, but totally unable to do anything about it.

"Aelita!" shouted the arrow firer, "Can't you do anything to calm him down? He's gone totally nuts!"

"Jeremie! Jeremie! Please calm down!" cried the tower-deactivator. It stepped forward slowly and put the ends of its front limbs on the part where my front limbs met my torso. It crossed my mind for a second that I would have to learn a little about human anatomy, so I could put names to what parts of my body I was using, but that thought was quickly swept away for being irrelevant. "You've got to calm down! Please?" it continued. Its voice was so soothing, and I felt my anger slipping.

It leaned forward, and the two red things placed close together near the bottom of its face met the point where I assumed I would have some. It kept them there for a second or two, then withdrew them and looked at me with a pained expression. I believe it's safe to say I had absolutely no idea of the meaning of this gesture at the time, but it calmed me down further.

My mad energy left me. The other three humans were looking at me as though I was going to go ballistic again at any second.

All options of resistance were down, and I felt utterly defeated. I felt water coming out of my eyes, and I would only learn later that what I had been doing was sobbing.  
"Who are you people? Please... don't hurt me... please..." I choked out. Then, I passed out.

"I think we've got a problem here." Were the last words I heard.


	5. Chapter 5: Lost Memories

Chapter 5: "Lost" Memories 

**Jeremie's POV**

Perhaps I'd better explain how I came to be sitting on a rock, all four legs folded up underneath me, in the massive chamber that held the nests of the monsters' home, and listening to a Krabe tell me the story of what was supposedly my life.

The doctor, or should I say, the "mechanic" (Don't laugh. The monsters may be more intelligent than we ever dreamed of at first, but their bodies are still mechanical, and thus, need repairing rather than healing.) said that I seemed to have lost my memory from the shocks I had. It said that it was doubtful that it would return any time soon.

My situation could have been worse, I suppose. The mechanic could have diagnosed possession by a human being. My friends and I never tried to kill anyone who had been possessed, but I didn't know if the monsters would have any qualms about destroying me, even though several of them claimed to be my friends, or, at least, friends of the poor monster who had inhabited this body before me. I had to wonder what happened to my own body, and to the mind of this body. Had they just gotten deleted? Or had something else happened?

The mechanic said I was free to go, for now, and those friends of the monster whose body I was inhabiting said it would be best if the other Krabe in their group took me out for a walk and explained things to me. And now, here I was.

"And so, after you had the human cornered, somehow you both fell off the edge! The human controller devirtualized all of them after that, and we just barely managed to pull you up and onto solid ground. You passed out after that, so we brought you home, safe and sound!" said the Krabe, finishing up its long ramble. "Err... K-129? K-129? Are you listening to me, K-129?"  
"Huh?" I said, startled out of my thoughts.  
"Ugh. K-129, have you been listening to me at all?"  
"Um... I heard most of it."  
"Pfft. Well, just follow me around, and we'll see if we can reeducate you. C'mon, our shift in the fields is coming up." it said, getting up off its rock and beckoning me to follow.

It. I supposed I had better get used to avoiding that pronoun with the monsters. In hearing their conversation, they have clearly referred to each others as "hes" and shes". This, one... what was her name... oh right, K-147, if "name" is an appropriate description for a label like that, was supposed to be female. That information had been rubbed in pretty well by that Frelion, F-723, who had suggested that I _liked_ this Krabe. I didn't exactly know yet how they told the difference between genders, or between individuals, for that matter.

"Fields? What fields?" I asked, confused, and getting up also.  
"The virtelm fields, silly, what else? The colonies can't live on air and water. We need food too."  
Ooookay. So they ate stuff. I wasn't about to ask how, seeing as they- _we_ didn't have any visible mouths.  
"Don't worry, its nothing to serious for today, just simply weeding out the pests and weeds. Set your laser on gentle and use it to burn them up. Just don't burn up the plants! We need to eat them!"

**Yumi's POV**

We had some serious explaining to do when we brought Jeremie, unconscious, into the nurse's office.  
"Okay, what happened to him?" Yolanda asked.  
"Well, um..." Ulrich began, "He started feeling a little sick after breakfast. Then he began to hallucinate, and later, he tried to attack us. After we managed to calm him down, he passed out, so we brought him here."

I thought that might be just a little too much information, but what was said was said.  
"Oh my," said Yolanda, concerned. She put her stethoscope to his chest. "Hmm... heart rate seems normal. No fever either. I hope there wasn't anything in that food."

She went over to a medicine cabinet on the wall with a clear door and pulled out a bottle with liquid in it. "I'm going to have to conduct some tests. There are about half a dozen chemicals that I can name that would do something like that to him. The best thing that you can do for him now is to let him get some rest." She took a hypodermic needle out of a drawer and filled it with the liquid in the bottle. "Run along, now, children."

We left the nurse's office, and Odd, Ulrich, and Aelita walked on ahead.  
"Hold on a minute, you guys." I said. They stopped and turned around to listen. "Don't you think that the way Jeremie acted back in the scanner room was a bit... strange?"  
"C'mon, Yumi." said Odd. "It was only his second trip to Lyoko without going to a place that at least looked like home or getting stuck in between, and he wound updangling over the digital void, clinging to a monster that was about to shoot him! How would you feel?"  
"Jeremie's been through a lot with us, Odd. He might get scared, but he wouldn't go crazy! 'Back off, humans, my laser isn't working right now, but that doesn't mean I won't defend myself'? What was that supposed to mean?"

Odd seemed to think about this for a moment. "He _did_ have a laser gun on Lyoko, and he _was_ cornered by that monster. Maybe he was delirious enough to think that he was still on Lyoko."  
"He was cornered by a Krabe, not humans."  
Everyone was silent for a while.  
"Okay," Ulrich said eventually. "So what do you suspect? Xana?"  
"Could be, Ulrich. Could be," I said. "It might be a clone, like the one that replaced me while I was stuck in a guardian."  
"It didn't look like it was Xana's doing." said Aelita, obviously reluctant to think that her precious Jeremie had been replaced with an impostor.

"If Xana created a copy, or just possessed the real Jeremie," she continued, "then he would have been a whole lot tougher. Odd and Yumi wouldn't have been able to hold him against the wall like that. He would have fought back. He would have-"  
"He would have resisted that kiss you gave him," Odd pointed out. Aelita went red.  
"Umm... yes... well, that, too. Above all, he wouldn't _cry_, and then pass out, asking who we were." Aelita finished.

Everyone was silent for a little longer.  
"Fine," I said. "We'll put this under investigation. When he wakes up, we should watch what he does, and see if there's anything suspicious about him. If there is, we should see if there's anything we can do about it on Lyoko, like find the real one."  
"And what if we can't do anything about it on Lyoko?" Ulrich asked. "We still don't know if Xana needs to activate towers to attack now."

That was the situation I was afraid of. If Jeremie really was possessed, and there was no tower to deactivate, then we had no idea how to fight him.  
"We'll just have to wait and see," I said.


	6. Chapter 6: A not Easy Task

Chapter 6: A (not) Easy Task 

**Metra's POV**

Humming to myself slightly, I led Tetrox, or at least the guy I thought was Tetrox at the time, down the slope towards the fields, away from the mechano hives. He was curiously silent, as though he was thinking very hard about something. I thought he was probably trying to remember something he had forgotten.

"There they are, K-129." I said, gesturing with one of my claws to point to three large fields, full of tall, green, virtelm stalks.  
"It doesn't look like much," he said. "Is this really all you need to feed the colonies? I thought that we would need a lot more. And it really smells, too. Are you sure you eat his stuff?"  
"Virtelm grows very, very fast. We plant it on one day, tend to it the next, and its ready for harvest by the third day. Each of the fields can feed the colonies for one day, while we're growing more. And don't worry about the smell. It goes away after cooking. Simple, right?" "I guess so."

We headed down further, to where a small crowd had gathered. Most of them were Kankrelats, with some Bloks and the occasional Krabe thrown in. A Frelion and a Manta hovered above, and a Megatank stood in front, addressing us.  
"Right," he said. "You lot know what to do. Kankrelats, get the weeds. Bloks and Krabes, the parasites on the leaves. The Frelion and the Manta will fly above and watch for trouble. Now get going!" The Megatank rolled off, leaving us to the fields.

It didn't take long for trouble to start. "K-129!" I shouted at him. "Are you out of your mind? You need to get up close and _burn_ the pests, not stand from a distance and try to shoot them from there! You'll hit someone's eye doing that!"  
"I thought you said this was supposed to be easy!" He complained.  
"Well, I suppose it does take some practice..," I mumbled.  
"Urggh..."

He went up close to the stalk, put his eye right up o one of the slimy slugs, and before I could say, "No! That's too close!" he fired, and the laser beam set the stalk afire.  
"Oh no!" I shouted. Tetrox stepped back from the fire, looking around wildly for some way to extinguish it.

I looked up into the sky, and waved to the Manta.  
"M-47! We've got a code 16 emergency here! We need a water mine, NOW!" I shouted.

He flew over to us as fast as he could.  
"Incoming!" He shouted, and the flying mine filled with water dropped out of a hatch on his belly. It hit the stalk, extinguishing the fire as it burst, but the burst of water was even more startling to Tetrox than the fire. He fell backwards in surprise, and let off an involuntary laser blast. It flew up into the sky, and it just barely grazed the edge of the Manta's wing.

Unfortunately, it was just enough to set him off balance. He dropped out of the sky with a cry, crashed into Tetrox, and with that, both of them went tumbling even further down the hill.

"Oh bother," I huffed, and ran after them.

I saw MT-62, the Megatank supervisor, rolling along the path when Tetrox and M-47 tumbled out of the virtelm and ran straight into him. The three mechanos rolled a little further before they all collapsed and sprawled out on the ground, away from each other. I ran down the hill to catch up, and was there to stand stiffly to attention when MT-62 recovered and started shouting.

"K-129! M-47! What on Lyoko do you think you're doing!" He shouted.

M-47 was the next to recover. "He shot me out of the sky!" he said, lying on the ground and pointing an accusing wing at Tetrox.  
"It was an accident!" Tetrox said, getting up.  
The Megatank stared them down, and they both cringed under his piercing gaze.  
"I think you both had better come with me. That's a serious charge you put against K-129, M-47. And what do you think you're doing, K-147? Get back to work!"  
"Uh... right away sir," I stammered.

All I could do as he marched the two of them away was hope that Tetrox would be alright.

**Tetrox's POV**

I remember a feeling of swimming against the current, fighting my way through dark waters, slowly rising upward...

And then waking up.

I was in a very white room, with a cabinet and a table in it. Morning sunshine came from a window in the wall. They were perfectly proportioned for a human to use, I reflected. I was lying on something rectangular, white, and soft, with a cushion under what I now had o think of as my head. It wasn't as soft as a bed of virtelm leaves, but it was okay.

I saw a door in one corner, but it was rectangular instead of circular, also proportioned for a human. Right now it was opening, and a tall human dressed in white with blonde hair came into the room. It was larger than the ones that had come to Lyoko, but somehow, this one didn't seem very frightening.

"Well now, feeling better, are we?" it said. I decided that somehow the ability to understand human language had been left in the body when the previous owner... vacated it.  
"Who are you?" I asked.  
"You don't recognize me?" it said, taken aback. "It's me, Yolanda, the school nurse."

Yolanda. We had a specific formula for naming back at the colony, which resulted in a combination of letters and numbers, like my former name, K-129. But I knew enough about human names to know that this one must be a female to have a name like that.

"You know my name, now," Yolanda said. "Do you know your name?"  
I decided that 'K-129' would be the wrong answer at this point. It is one thing to lose your memory, but it is another thing altogether to get someone else's.  
"No." I replied.  
"Okay. Your name is 'Jeremie'. Do you understand that?"  
"Yes." I replied.  
"Good. I don't know what made you lose your memory, but hopefully it won't take too long for it to come back. You should go outside and join your friends."

So I left the "nurse's office," as Yolanda called it, and went outside.

_So this is what the humans' world looks like._ I thought. The sky was light blue, like that of the mountain region. There were trees, but they didn't stretch up into infinity, like those of the forest region. They looked more... real looking, I suppose is the only way to put it.

Their buildings were all rectangular. The nests back home were somewhat flattened cones, and the rooms within were all spheres, cylinders, and unflattened cones. The humans were all about blocks.

"Jeremie!" I heard someone call. Recognizing that as "my" name, I turned around to see who it was. It was the arrow firer, waving to me and standing in a group with the other Lyoko warriors. Resisting the urge to run, I walked toward them.

"Well? How're you feeling?" asked the fan thrower.  
"You had us pretty worried there for a while, buddy!" said the arrow firer, amiably. "You spent the whole night out cold in the nurse's office!"

The whole night... so that meant that it had been an entire day since I left Lyoko. "So, it is morning... doesn't that mean we have to go to... school?" I said, drawing from what little I knew about human existence.  
"Classes don't start for another 15 minutes." said the swordsman.  
"Well, it looks like he's back to normal," said the arrow firer.  
"Um... what are your names again?" I hazarded.

"Ooookay...," said the arrow firer. "So he may have a bit of amnesia."  
The fan thrower narrowed her eyes, and I took a step back. It was obvious that she didn't buy that explanation.  
"I'm Yumi, that's Ulrich, that's Odd, and that's Aelita," she said coldly, gesturing to each of the others in turn.  
"And I'm Jeremie," I said.  
"Well, at least he got that right," said Aelita.  
"We'd better get going," said Ulrich. "C'mon, Jeremie, I'll show you to your room, so you can pick up your stuff." He grabbed me by a front limb and led me away.

**Aelita's POV**

Ulrich, Jeremie, and Odd left, leaving me and Yumi.

"Well?" I asked. "What do you think? Is he the real deal?"  
"I have my doubts," said Yumi. "If he's a fake, we'll know soon enough."


	7. Chapter 7: The Scipizoa's Little Helper

Chapter 7: The Scipizoa's Little Helper 

**Jeremie's POV**

The Megatank brought us to a large, conical building, much like the others that made up the nests. There, I was shoved inside a cylindrical room for the rest of the night. It wasn't exactly a cell; the pile of virtelm leaves that passed for a bed among the monsters wasn't exactly uncomfortable, and the food they brought me wasn't all that bad, once I figured out how to eat it, (I'd rather not talk about how it happens, exactly. Let's just say it involves tubes.) but I was still locked in, so I was definitely imprisoned.

I spent the night there, with nothing better to do than daydream about home, and think about how I might get back. I couldn't figure out anything. I also thought about the strange fact that I was able to understand the monsters. I decided that some part of the Krabe's knowledge had remained in the body's head, and I was able to use it. I also tried to explain to myself how I could read their expressions. It was probably some sort of chemical shift in the atmosphere that the body recognized, rather than any movement of muscles, like on a human face.

Well, I'm sure you don't really care about all that. Anyway, the next day I was brought from the cell to another room, where a Creeper acting as a judge patiently listened to my story, the Manta's story, the Megatank's story, and K-147's story. It didn't seem like he considered the whole incident in the field a big deal.

"Very well," he said. "I think it is safe to say that what happened in the field was nothing more than an embarrassing accident. M-47, you're free to go."  
I watched the Manta glide out of the room, giving me nothing more than a passing glare.  
"As for you, K-129, K-147 has told me about your recent accident and memory loss, so until it returns, you will have to stay away from your normal activities. There is too much of a chance of another accident, and next time, it could be much more serious."

"Therefore," the Creeper continued, "I am going to give you some other duties until then. S-1 is in need of an assistant in his position, and I'm going to give you to him for now. Go upstairs and down the hall to room 511. You'll find him there." He pounded a gavel. "Case dismissed."

He passed me on his way out. "Don't worry, kid," he said. "S-1 will probably work you to the wires, but he's not a bad chap, once you get to know him." He gave me a sympathetic smile, which actually was possible because Creepers have mouths, and left.

As I walked up the stairs, and down the cylindrical hallway, I found myself wondering: Who is S-1?

I pushed open the door to room 511. A Kankrelat, a Blok, a Krabe, a Frelion, a Megatank, a Tarantula, a Creeper, and a Manta were all sitting on square blocks around a table, and it was obvious that I had interrupted something important from the way they all looked at me sharply when I entered.

"Yes?" said the nearest one gruffly, the Blok. "What business do you have here?"  
"Err... I was told I could find S-1 here. Which one of you is him?" I stammered.  
"I am S-1," said the one monster in the room I had failed to notice.

The Scipizoa drifted over from the head of the table towards me. I stepped back from him in fear, which got a laugh from him.  
"Don't worry, young one. I don't bite. You must be K-129, my new assistant. I'm a little busy right now, you see, meeting with the nest leaders? So why don't you go up another level to room 622, that's my office, and wait for me there."

He pushed me out of the room with several tentacles, and slammed the door behind me. Numbly, I went up the stairs again and went to the room I had been told to go to.

I couldn't believe it! The Scipizoa! All of the monsters had caused trouble for us, but none more than the Scipizoa. If it weren't for it, then Xana would never have escaped! And the Creeper had called him "not a bad chap, once you get to know him"?

I waited in the office for about thirty minutes. There was nothing in it but a computer console with several different keyboards in front of it, a few block chairs, and a desk stacked with paper. Eventually, he came in and seated himself at the computer console.  
"Ah, yes. K-129," he said, beginning to type. He didn't look at me. "Let me just see here... ah, yes, I think I have a task for you..."

And boy, did he. Think of any possible task for an "assistant" to do. Go on, do it. I bet you that I did them all.

9AM to 5PM for the next few days were one grueling task after another. On the janitor's day off, I was asked to strap brooms to my claws and sweep the entirety of the central cone, as they called the main administrative building of the monsters' complex, where the Scipizoa's office was. I took messages all the way from the building to Nesta Kankrelata, (home of the Kankrelats, obviously,)all the way on the other side of the monsters' vast chamber, and back. I had to give a package to F-888, and he lived in Hivea Freliona, which was on the_ ceiling_ of the chamber.

You're going to think this is strange, but the one thing that kept me from losing my mind was my "friends", the monsters that were part of the defense squadron that the real K-129 was a part of. They still thought that I was really him. Whenever they didn't have other duties, like working the fields or training for combat, they were helping me out.

And, over those few days, I actually found myself beginning to like them. We talked, we joked, (I admit, you will not understand most monster jokes if you are a human) and they tried, futilely, to help me regain my "lost" memories.

They reminded me a little bit of my own friends, strangely enough. B-451 and B-356, the Bloks, were kind of like me and Aelita; B-451 was pretty brainy, and if it weren't for him, I would have never gotten to Hivea Freliona in the first place, and B-356 was always seemed so innocent, to the point where I doubted that she could fire lasers. She could of course, but that's not the point. She also obviously adored B-451.

F-723, the Frelion, was kind of like Odd; he was always cracking the best jokes, or the worst jokes, depending on your point of view. K-147 was like Yumi; she was always calm and collected, and it was obvious that she had a crush on K-129. I had to wonder if K-129 was anything like Ulrich. But however friendly they were to me, I knew they wouldn't be quite so friendly if they knew what I really was.

I had become a Krabe on Sunday. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday came and went, and I had not made any progress in thinking of a way to escape. On Thursday, I came into the Scipizoa's office, just like the past I had the past few days, and sat down on one of the chairs. The Scipizoa was sitting at the console, typing on several different keyboards at once with his tentacles.

"Ah. There you are, K-129," he said.  
"Sorry I'm late, sir. Do you have a task for me, sir?" I asked, ready for whatever grueling, mindless, or dangerous task he asked me to do today.  
"No."  
I did a double take.  
"No?" I asked, questioningly.  
"No. Actually, I've been meaning to talk to you, K-129. Lock the door please."

Curious, I went over to the door and locked it. Then I went back to the chair and sat down again.  
"Tell me, K-129," he said, without looking away from the computer. "Is everything all right?"  
"Well, um, yes, why wouldn't it be, sir?"  
"No accidental computer malfunctions resulting in finding yourself in the body of a Krabe, K-129, or, should I say, Jeremie?"

One word: Panic.

"How... how did you know?" I asked, trying to fight the rising tide of fear.  
"I have my ways. You don't need to panic. I've known all along, Jeremie, and I haven't seen to it that you are destroyed, right? So what makes you think you're in trouble now?"  
I said nothing. The Scipizoa got up from the computer and drifted to the window, and looked out. This was a room with a view; you could see all the other monster nests from here.

"Like I said, I just want to talk to you," he said, without looking at me. "Tell me, Jeremie, have you ever considered what would happen to the mechanos if you shut down the supercomputer?"  
"Well... I..."  
"That's a rhetorical question, Jeremie. You don't need to answer. Of course you haven't. To you, the mechanos, or, as you say, monsters, were just mindless machines, programmed by Xana to make your lives miserable on Lyoko while he calmly and quietly attacked your world. Have the past few days changed anything?"

I thought back. I thought about K-129's friends. I thought about the Creeper, who had been sympathetic. I thought about MT-62 the Megatank, who had just been doing his job. It suddenly struck me how much likeordinary peoplethey seemed, rather than the raving laser-shooters I thought they would be when I first met them.

"To the soldiers on the battlefield, the soldiers on the other side are The Enemy. They are Evil," he continued. "What many people fail to realize is that their enemies are people too. Sometimes, fear is the only thing that keeps a soldier going. Do you know why the mechanos have helped Xana, Jeremie?"

"We knew that Xana was evil," he continued. "But we also knew that because he was evil, then the humans would shut down Lyoko, and we would die. So we had to help him, to help destroy the humans so they wouldn't destroy us. We fought to defend our world, Jeremie, just as you do. We knew that we must keep fighting, no matter how many were killed, because if we failed, then all would die. Now that Xana has left us, we live every day in fear, wondering if the humans will simply shut us off. I'm the only one besides Xana who knows the whole story, and Xana didn't care, seeing that he cared more about destroying you. Everyone else who lives on Lyoko thinks that _you and your friends_ are the evil ones."

His words were a stunning blow. In one little speech, he had shattered everything I thought I knew about the mon- mechanos. What stung the most was that it was that it all made sense. If it weren't for the fact that Aelita was stuck on Lyoko, and then Aelita had a virus tying her to Lyoko, and then Xana was no longer on Lyoko, then the supercalculator would have been shut down by now. And K-147, K-129, and all the rest would have ceased to exist. The thought sickened me.

"I'm... I'm sorry... we never knew..." I stammered out. I didn't know what else to say.

"It's okay, Jeremie. But there will be a time for reconciliation between mechanos and humans later. First, I am going to help you return to your own body."  
"Can I do that?"  
"Yes. I have a plan. First, a tower must be activated, and you will possess one of the humans. Back in your world, you must find K-129, who has been sent into _your_ body."  
"He has?"  
"Yes. You must bring him to Lyoko. Then the switch can be made. You can tell your friends what you have experienced, and then maybe we can have peace at last."

It didn't take me long to come up with a reply.  
"I'll do it."  
"Good. Come back tomorrow, and we'll put our plans into action."  
"Thank... thank you, sir."  
"Please. Call me S-1. One more thing. While you are in the real world, you must obtain a cell phone to give to me."  
"Why?"  
"My reasons are my own. Goodbye, Jeremie."

**Scipizoa's POV**

I watched Jeremie leave, and my heart warmed at the thought of the false hope I had planted in his mind. All of what I had said about the mechanos' reasons for fighting was true, and now he would do anything I asked. Xana may have left me here with the other monsters, he may have dropped me like a used tissue, but he will surely accept me back under his wing when I hand the monsters back to him, brainwashed to mindlessness and obedient, on a silver platter. I didn't need to switch Jeremieback. He could be brainwashed like anyone else.

All I needed now was that cell phone.


	8. Chapter 8: Testing Testing

I thought it might be interesting to use for the test they take here some actual questions I had from a test I had a while back. Warning, chemistry humor ahead.

Chapter 8: Testing... Testing...

**Tetrox's POV**

It was Monday, about the time the real Jeremie was getting himself into trouble in the virtelm fields, and I was being shown to the room I would be staying in by a human who I wouldn't last five minutes with on Lyoko, and about the same on Earth in my current body.

"You do have your room key, right, Jeremie?" said Ulrich, leaning against the door to Jeremie's room.

I had been aware for some time of a small metal object in a pocket of Jeremie's pants, so I took it out. It didn't look anything like a key. Keys are shaped like Xana's eye, and are mounted on the walls to keep the shifting shape of Sector 5 in check. This thing was small, with one rough edge and one smooth edge, and a squarish handle.

I showed the object to him.  
"No, all I have is this shiny thing," I said. Inexplicably, he smacked himself in the forehead.  
"Jeremie you doofus, that _is_ your key. Honestly, You'd better get your memory back soon, because I don't want to go around having to name everything for you."  
"Ooops."

I inserted the key into the slot on the doorknob, turned it, and pushed it open. Ulrich walked in.  
"Here. You'll need these," he said, handing me some books. "Now let's go meet Odd and Aelita. We don't want to be late for Chemistry class."

I followed him out of the room, down the corridor, downstairs, outside, to another building... I tried to memorize the route we had taken without success. The mechano nests were probably much more complicated than this school, but at least they were familiar.

We entered a classroom on the first floor of the building we had entered, and I believe its safe to say that I had never seen so many humans in one place before. We had to fight four of them on Lyoko, including the human whose body I was now occupying, and then I had seen the nurse, Yolanda, but there were at least thirty of them in here.

I took a seat in one of the humans' strange, backed chairs, and, looking around first to see what everyone else was doing, faced the front of the room, where a tall human with gray hair and glass eyes to cover the real ones stood.

"Alright, class. As you know, we have a test today," she said. There was a chorus of groans from all the other humans in the room.  
"Oh no! I completely forgot!" exclaimed Ulrich.  
"C'mon, Mrs. Hertz, can't we have one more day to study?" someone complained.  
"You had all weekend! You can't complain now," said the tall human, who I assumed was Mrs. Hertz. She went around to all the desks and handed out sheets of paper, with writing on them.

We had tests back it the colonies, but what they were was the inspector coming around to see if the squadrons' training was up to date, and they involved a lot of physical skill. These sheets of paper were new to me.  
"You may begin," Mrs. Hertz said.

Everyone immediately bent over their sheets of paper and started making marks on them with long, thin, yellow sticks. From next to me, one of them was thrust under my face.  
"You'll need a pencil," Ulrich whispered.

I took the pencil and examined the paper. For the same reason I could understand the humans' spoken language, I could understand what was written in their language too. The sheet had lots of questions written on it, and blank spaces, so I assumed I had to write the answers with the pencil.

So far, so good. This "test" didn't seem too hard, certainly not as hard as the tests we had in combat training. So I picked up the pencil, and calmly and quietly started down the road to disaster.

The first thing I saw, at the top of the sheet, was:

NAME:

I almost put down "K-129", but I thought better at the last second and put down "Jeremie". I gave myself a mental pat on the back for successfully answering the first question.

The second thing I saw was:

1. Stoichiometry problems may involve all of the following except:

a. converting among moles, particles, mass, and volume.  
b. determining the relationships between reactants and products.  
c. studying the quantitative relationships in chemical formulas.  
d. predicting how fast a reaction will occur.

Now, I thought, what a weird question to ask! What on Lyoko is "stoichiometry" anyway? There must be something wrong with it, for it to have problems. I thought a mole was a kind of Earth-dwelling creature. Maybe the stoichimetry was a kind of insect that got eaten by a mole. I put down "A" in the blank.

2. A balanced equation verifies the law of conservation of matter because:

a. the molar masses of all the substances are the same.  
b. the coefficients on both sides of the equation are the same.  
c. the mass of the reactants equals the mass of the products.  
d. the mass of the products always equals 100 grams.

I had learned from browsing the internet in my spare time that a mass was a large congregation of humans who gathered together to worship an all powerful being they believed to exist. I didn't know reactants and products had them too. The virtelm leaves we harvested were products, and they didn't do any worshiping. But maybe they did, though, when nobody was looking. 100 was a pretty powerful number, so maybe that's what they worshiped. I put down "D".

I practically breezed through the test, finding it hard to believe how easy it was. Balance an equation? All you need to do is draw a pair of scales. Find the molar ratio? Ha! A trick question! Moles don't know _anything _about ratios.

A bell rang.

"Please put your tests on my desk before leaving," Mrs. Hertz said, pointing at the table at the front of the room. Feeling proud of myself for besting what seemed to have caused so much grief to the rest of the humans, judging by their expressions, I went up to the desk and placed my test on the pile that had formed there.

I didn't know I had gotevery single question on the testwrong, of course. I followed Ulrich, Odd, and Aelita out the door, humming an old mechano ditty to myself.  
"Did you know we had a test, Odd?" Ulrich asked.  
"You bet. I spent the whole night studying!" Odd said.  
"Really?" asked Aelita, raising an eyebrow.  
"Well... no. But I did dream I was swimming in a giant test tube."  
"You're hopeless, Odd," said Ulrich.  
"Well, it wasn't that hard." said Aelita. "It was easy, right, Jeremie?"  
"You bet!" I said, beaming.  
"Everything's easy for Jeremie. He could lose his memory a hun- wait, did you say it was _easy_ for you, Jeremie?" Ulrich said, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

"Uh huh."  
"But you lost your memory! Has it come back to you already?"  
"Err... well, I guess I didn't lose everything."  
"Amazing. You forget the names of your best friends, but you still ace a Chemistry test."

And so it went. At times, it seemed like the life of a mechano was easy when compared to a human, and sometimes, it was the other way around. The humans who said they were my friends were, actually, pretty friendly, although I got the feeling that Yumi constantly had a suspicious eye turned on me.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday came and went, and everything seemed just fine. We all had to do some work outside of class as well as in it, but it was just as easy. Jeremie's friends didn't seem to think I had forgotten much about my schoolwork, so I was able to work without interruption from them. There was some physical work to do well, in what they called "Gym class", and I did as best as I could there, too, although Jeremie's body wasn't very well suited for it.

There was this girl that none of Jeremie's friends seemed to like very much, named Sissi. She had a couple of cronies with her too, and they were always trying to make trouble for us. We had that type of person in the colonies. Usually the mechanos they bullied would subtly convince the inspectors that the bullies were the best fighters, and, thus, they were sent out to fight the humans first. I don't think any of them have survived yet.

It was on Thursday that trouble started. I and Jeremie's four friends were outside, hanging out at a bench, when Mrs. Hertz stormed up to us.  
"Jeremie!" she shouted. "I am very disappointed in you, young man!"  
The five of us looked at her, bewildered.  
"I was going to hand you back your tests in class today, but I decided I wanted you to explain _this_ to me first."

She thrust a piece of paper into my hands.  
"Hey! It's the test!" I said happily, recognizing it. There was something different about it, though. There was a number in red in the top corner:

0/100

My face fell when I saw it. I had learned enough in the past few days to know what it meant.  
"This had better be a joke, Jeremie! I want to see you in my office at the end of the day, and you'd better not be late! Good day, children."

**Yumi's POV**

She walked off, in a huff. We all looked down at the paper. I've known Jeremie longer than any of the others. If he lost his memory, he would have answered, "I don't know", and hoped for the best. He would have to lose his memory a thousand times before he gave such harebrained answers as the ones written there.

I grabbed the thing that had taken Jeremie's form and shoved it against a tree.  
"Alright, Xana," I said, angrily. "The jig is up. What have you done with the real Jeremie?"


	9. Chapter 9: Identity Crisis

Chapter 9: Identity Crisis 

**Tetrox's POV**

I swear, Xana," Yumi said, still pushing me against the tree, "if you've done _anything_ to hurt the real Jeremie, I will _personally_ find a way to delete you, byte by agonizing byte. Let go of him! Now!"

That's not a threat a digital being like a mechano can take lightly.  
"Please! I'm not who you think I am! I'm not Xana!" I pleaded.  
"Well, you're obviously not the real Jeremie, so who are you? Hmm? We're listening, Xana."

My mind raced. I couldn't just say, "My name is K-129, and I'm a Krabe. They would be just as angry.  
"Do you think that's really Jeremie's body, or is that's a polymorphic clone?" Ulrich asked.  
"He must be a clone," Aelita said. "He came out of the scanner, and Xana can't possess people directly on Lyoko. The real Jeremie must be inside a guardian."  
"But if he really is a clone," Odd said, "then why isn't he attacking? He should be able to fire electricity and have the strength of ten men and be able to phase out of Yumi's grip!"  
"It's a trick!" Yumi spat. "He doesn't want us to think that he's Xana, so if he goes superhuman on us, he gives himself away!"

I was frantically trying to think of a plan for escape. If I could get out of their grip, maybe I could find the factory the supercalculator was located in, transfer myself to Lyoko, retreat to the safety of the colonies...

And get blasted to bits by comrades who would think I was a human when they saw me.

Unbidden, memories started to creep up in the back of my mind. Stories, that I heard from other mechanos, about Xana's exploits on Earth, like the one where he tried unsuccessfully to prevent the creator of Lyoko, Franz Hopper, who had been imprisoned by Xana, from delivering a message to his fellow humans.

That was it!

"He's a clone created by Xana," Yumi said firmly. "All we have to do is drag him to the scanners, transfer him, keep him restrained on Lyoko while we find the real Jeremie, get him out, get back to the real world, and shut down the supercomputer while Xana's still in it. Problems solved."

They wanted to shut down the supercomputer! But that meant that Metra and the others...  
"NO!" I shouted, so loudly that they all took a few steps back. Yumi realized that she had let go of me, and started forward, but I leapt up into the tree, out of reach.  
"I mean, no," I said, and started to weave a lie that I am still proud of to this day. "You mustn't. you won't find any guardians on Lyoko. Anyway, if I really was a clone, then shutting down the supercomputer with me in it would destroy me, but Xana will still be out there. But I repeat, I am not Xana."

"If you're not Xana," Ulrich shouted up, "Then who the heck are you?"  
I took a deep breath. "I've come here to help you. I am Franz Hopper, and I am the only one who knows how stop Xana."

---------------------------

So, I am Tetrox, aka K-129, in Jeremie's body, and pretending to be Franz Hopper. Identity crisis, huh?

I explained that I had to possess Jeremie to be able to contact them, and insisted that he was fine. It was a little disconcerting to hear Aelita call me "daddy", but at least I had earned their trust, for now. I still got the feeling that Yumi was suspicious. After all, there had been a time when a person calling himself Franz Hopper had actually been a polymorphic clone.

It had been a lie made in haste, and I was a little worried that it wouldn't hold up for long. Sooner or later, they would want to hear my plans for defeating Xana once and for all, and of course I had none. I tried to figure out how I could turn this to my advantage, while they were still fooled.

I could convince them to take me to the supercomputer, use it to track down my body, figure out how to download myself back into it...

But then again, I had no idea how I would go about such a thing. I may live in a computer, and I may have browsed the internet now and again when there was nothing else to do, but that doesn't mean I can operate one as complex as the supercomputer from the outside. The real Jeremie could, but I still didn't know whether he had been simply deleted... or something else.

I began to wonder if I had just made my situation worse.

**Jeremie's POV**

It was Friday, the day after K-129 had convinced my friends he was Franz Hopper, although I didn't know that yet.

The only place I've been to in Lyoko besides the mechanos' chamber in Sector 5 is the desert region where I did my training, and which I found a little boring. But I had never seen the mountains, and to say that I was impressed simply wouldn't be doing my emotions justice.

I walked along one of the narrow paths, which were just wide enough for a Krabe or two humans walking abreast, and looking up at the towering, floating spires around me. The misty clouds only served to heighten the sense of mystic power that seemed to emanate from everywhere.

The path took me to a tower, glowing blue like all the others, that was surrounded by high, stone walls. Ironicaly, it was the same tower that we had activated to run the translation program for Franz's diary, and for a moment I had a feeling that I was going to be ambushed by an evil version of Odd or Ulrich, but the only one who came to greet me was S-1, who glided out from behind the stone wall as I approached.

"Ah. I see you've made it, Jeremie. How do you like the mountains?"  
"They're very peaceful. It's hard to believe that so many battles have bee fought here," I said.  
"Yes. Most of us stay away from the other regions and the rest of Sector 5 these days, with the exception of when they're being invaded. There are too many bad memories."

I looked around at the mountains again, wondering at how otherworldly they were, compared to mountains on Earth. All that was missing was guardrails and tourists.

"Hello? Jeremie?" S-1 said.  
"Huh?" I said, startled out of my thoughts.  
"I_ said_, are you ready for your mission?"  
"Oh, right. I'm ready whenever you are."

S-1 went behind the tower and pulled out what looked like a floating crystal computer, held in the air by a propeller underneath. He started moving things around on the screen with his tentacles, the way Aelita did with her hands.  
"Alright. I'm activating the tower... now."

Above us, the tower's glow shifted from a deep blue to a vibrant green. S-1 continued to program.  
"Just a few more adjustments, and..."

I became aware of a sensation of flying. I looked down, and saw the Krabe body, standing still, with S-1 in front of it, still working on the computer. I flew up, bodiless, the panorama of the Mountain region stretching out before me, and the two mechanos got smaller and smaller the further away I got.

Then, the sky faded to black, with only a faint glow around the mountains, and I started to see the other regions, including the bright ball that held Sector 5. The entirety of Lyoko got smaller and smaller, and then, suddenly, I was flying through wires, electricity buzzing around me.

I flew through them for what seemed like an eternity, before my view shifted again, suddenly. I saw a hallway. Lit up by fluorescent lights. The very last thing I saw before everything faded to black was a very surprised person with slick black hair, a pimply face, and glasses.

I opened my eyes, slowly, and looked down. The clothes looked familiar. I walked into a nearby bathroom and looked in the mirror.  
"Ugh. Did it _have_ to be _Herve_?" I exclaimed.  
_Jeremie._  
"Huh? Who's there?"  
_It's me, S-1. Do not worry, I'm just keeping contact with you through the tower. Xana did it all the time with his specters. I'm sure you don't want to go it alone._  
"Really? Well, thanks, I guess."  
_We have work to do.  
_"Right."

I stepped out of the bathroom, eager to find my body.


	10. Chapter 10: Language Crisis

Chapter 10: Language Crisis 

**Jeremie's POV**

I stepped out of the bathroom and looked around. The hallway was empty.  
"Now," I said to myself, "Where would I be at this time of day?"

I checked Herve's watch, but soon found myself staring at it in total incomprehension.  
"What is this?" I thought. "Why is Herve's watch using some sort of foreign language?"  
_To be honest, I don't quite know myself._

There was a ringing in my pocket. I reached in, pulled it out, and hit the answer button.  
"Hello?" I said.

**Sissi's POV**

"Where's Herve?" Nicholas asked, impatiently.

Nicholas and I were hiding in the bushes, spying on Ulrich and his pals. I had thought of an awesome trick to play on them... but we couldn't do it without Herve!

"I'll call him," I said. I pulled out my cell phone and dialed him up. I held it up to my ear, waiting for him to answer.  
"Beep?" said Herve, on the other end.  
"Uh... Herve? Is that you"  
"Beep! beeeepbobbalalabtweet!"  
"Uh... I think I must have the wrong number. Bye."  
"Beep! Be-"

I redialed, being very careful to get the right numbers.

"Beep?"  
I hung up, hurriedly.

"Uh, I don't think we can count on Herve right now, Nicholas."

**Jeremie's POV**

"That... was weird." I said to myself. I had recognized Sissi's voice, but it was just a bunch of gibberish. I turned off the cell phone, just in case she tried to call me again. Then I placed it back in my pocket.  
"Well, at least I don't have to worry about getting you a cell phone, S-1. I already have one here."

_Understood. Now go find K-129._

I walked out of the door of the science building, which was where I- Herve had been before I possessed him. I decided to check the bench where we normally hung out first. I turned the corner to one of the school's courtyards, and, lo and behold, there they were. K-129 even had my laptop out. Well, apparently he had learned to act appropriately.

**Odd's POV**

"Hey, isn't that Herve coming toward us?" I said, pointing at the lone figure walking hesitantly toward us.  
"I wonder what he wants." Ulrich said, sounding bored.

Mr. Hopper, in Jeremie's body, was programming something on Jeremie's laptop, while Aelita watched.  
"Daddy... erm... I kinda learned a bit about programming myself during my stay on Lyoko, and, well, it seems like you're just typing complete gibberish," she said, hesitantly, obviously afraid to talk back to her father about what he knew more about than anyother person alive.  
"Just trust me, sweetie. I know what I'm doing," he said, decisively.

Herve approached us, and put his hand on Mr. Hopper's shoulder.

**Jeremie's POV**

"Jeremie!" I said, "I mean, K-129, listen. There's been a terrible mistake! We have to go back to Lyoko immediately, and switch our bodies back. Don't worry, I know all about the civilization that you mechanos have, and I don't wish you any harm. But we must switch back as soon as possible!"

**Tetrox's POV**

Jeremie's friends and I looked in Herve in bewilderment, as a stream of incomprehensible beeps and whistles poured out of his mouth. But, despite the fact that I couldn't understand a word he was saying, a gleam of hope was beginning to surface in my mind.

You see, I didn't understand him. But I recognized the voice. I had been speaking in Jeremie's voice, since it was his body, so it stood to reason that if, somehow, Jeremie had made it to my body, rather than simply being deleted as I had previously thought, then he would speak in my voice.

However, speaking in the voice of the body only works if you actually in the body, like I am. If it's a possession, then the possessor's voice comes out of the body's mouth mixed with the possessed's voice. When Xana possessed someone, it was his voice, an electronic one, mixed in. Someone else was possessing Herve, and I recognized the voice mixed in with Herve's. It was my own. I knew with certainty that Jeremie was trying to contact me.

However, Jeremie's friends were quite certain about something else.

**Jeremie's POV**

_Jeremie, stop! Get out of there!  
_"Huh? Why?" I said to S-1 in the silence of my head.  
_I've figured out about the watch, and Sissi's voice on the phone. They were in English, but as a mechano, even while possessing a human, you can't understand or speak English, only mechano!_  
"What? Why?"  
_I don't know. But I do know that you're friends have just heard a stream of gibberish come out of your mouth, and they're probably very suspicious_.

**Sissi's POV**

"Hey! There's Herve!" Nicholas said.  
"Huh? Where?" I replied.  
"There! With Jeremie and his pals! And... I can't understand a word he's saying!"

I stared at the group of six from our hiding place in the bushes.  
"Hah!" I heard Yumi say. "I knew you were an imposter, Xana! I should have known! Franz could only speak in gibberish last time, and that's what he's doing now, through Herve! He's probably trying to warn us that you've possessed Jeremie, and pretending to be you!" she shouted at Jeremie.

"What's she talking about? Possessed?" Nicholas said, confused.  
"Shh!" I said.

"Easy, Yumi!" said Ulrich. "Don't jump to conclusions. Now, both Jeremie and Herve are obviously possessed, and since there are only two digital beings that can do that, Xana and Franz Hopper, then one of them must be one and one of them must be the other. So, who is it?"  
"Herve must be the one possessed by my dad!" Aelita shouted. "Yumi's right, he came here to warn us! Xana's been typing what looks like gibberish into Jeremie's computer, but it must actually be a powerful virus!"

I couldn't contain my excitement. Possession! By ghosts, or demons, or something! This must be what their big secret is!

**Jeremie's POV**

I stared around at my friends, who were arguing wildly, loudly, and, most importantly, totally incomprehensively. Basic human (or mechano, I'm still not sure which one) instinct came to the fore, fight-or-flight possibilities flying through my mind along with ideas about what they were arguing about. I had really blown it, speaking openly like that. They probably thought I was Xana now.

Some decisions are made in an instant.

With only a second's thought, I grabbed K-129's arm and charged off in the direction of the forest passage as fast as Herve's legs could carry me.

**Scipizoa's POV**

I watched the view through Jeremie's eyes on the computer screen in front of me, trying hard not to panic. If everything went wrong now, all was lost.

"Excuse me? Sir? S-1?" I heard a voice say.

I lookeddown sharply into the faces of K-129's friends.  
"Err..." said F-723, "We were told that K-129 came here to the mountain region, so we came looking for him, and we found him, but... he's not responding." He gestured to K-129's body. "What's wrong with him?"

I thought carefully about what to say to them before speaking.  
"K-129 is... on a reconnaissance mission. You know, spying on the humans. I've activated a tower to allow him passage into a human's body."  
"Ah," said the Frelion. "That makes sense. Is there anything we can do to help?"  
"Yeah... hang around. There could be a battle coming."

**Sissi's POV**

Nicholas and I saw Herve, presumably possessed, grab Jeremie, also presumably possessed, and charge off.

"Hey!" Yumi shouted. "What's going on now! Get back here, you two!"  
"Quick! After them!" Ulrich shouted, and the rest of them ran off in the same direction.

"What now?" Nicholas asked.  
"We follow them, of course! C'mon!" I said.


	11. Chapter 11: Return to Lyoko

Chapter 11: Return to Lyoko 

**Scipizoa's POV**

I had had this chamber built by a group of mechano engineers who had been sworn to total secrecy, and then met very mysterious ends, just in case they ever thought of betraying my trust. It is my secret basement, set below the conical building that is my home and the center of the mechanos' government.

No one knows about that room except me. And that room is where, for the past month, I have been building... it.

Jeremie and K-129's... reversal of fortunes, you might say, occurred almost too conveniently for my plans. Very soon, the final piece will be in my hands, and with it, it will be complete.

I can imagine it sitting there, now, ten tons of machinery, tubes and signalers running everywhere along the floor, ready to be raised up and out of the building, where every single mechano in Sector 5 will be in its reach.

Very soon...

Xana may have abandoned me with all the other mechanos, but he'll soon learn the error of his ways. Once he sees how useful I am with the gift I bring, he'll have to take me back.

Run run run, as fast as you can, Jeremie...

**Jeremie's POV**

Dashing toward the sewer entrance, my own body nearly flying through the air behind me as K-129 hung on to my hand for dear life, I was aware of the angry cries of my friends behind me. I stopped by the entrance, wrenched off the cover, threw K-129 down, then jumped in myself without bothering to close the manhole behind me.

"S-1!" I shouted, as I sprinted along the sewer passage, "Can't you do anything to help me go faster?" I heard the sound of two feet hit the ground where the entrance would be. That meant that they were already in the sewers with me. "They're gaining on me!"  
_I'm way ahead of you, Jeremie._

Suddenly, I felt waves of electricity flow through Herve's body. "Yeah!" I shouted, as I put on a burst of speed that no normal human could hope to achieve. Yellow after-images flowed along after me and K-129, as the walls of the sewers blurred past us. The speed was so exhilarating, I nearly forgot to stop at the other end, and nearly ran into the wire grille. At that speed, I would have become shredded cheese, although in my current state, I wouldn't be surprised if I could be put back together.

Slinging K-129 over my shoulder, I climbed the ladder, pushed back the cover, and stepped onto the bridge. I put on another burst of speed to get inside, and rode the elevator down to the scanner room. Shoving K-129's- my unresisting body into a scanner and letting it shut, I rode up again and sat at the computer.

I couldn't understand the letters on the keyboard anymore, but I was still able to set up a self-virtualization process purely by memory. A security camera on the outside of the factory was transmitting an image of my friends running down the bridge, so I knew there wasn't much time left. I put a block on the elevator to give myself a little more. Quickly, I took the ladder down to the scanner room, got into a scanner, and let the white light envelope me as I was virtualized.

**Ulrich's POV**

"Curse you, Xana!" I shouted, as the elevator failed to rise no matter how many times I pushed the elevator call button.  
"We can still make it!" said Aelita. "We can go by the boiler room passage!"

"What is Xana trying to pull, anyway?" Odd asked, as we ran in the direction of the boiler room.  
"Aelita's dadcould be the onein Jeremie's body, right?" Yumi said. "So if Xana virtualizes him onto Lyoko, and pushes him over the edge into the void, then, you know, pfft. The only two people in the world who could possibly work out a way to defeat Xana are as good as dead."  
"Then we have to work quickly," I said. "Who knows what could be happening on Lyoko right now?"

**Tetrox's POV**

I fell awkwardly to the ground from twenty feet up in the air, letting out a loud "oomph!" as I hit the ground. Slowly, I got up, and looked around. Mountains. Lots of them, floating in midair in clear defiance of Earth's law of gravity, with mist everywhere.

The mountain region! I wanted to whoop for joy. I was home.

My joy quickly faded, however, when I realized that I was still in a human body. My clothes had changed, to some sort of black armor. There was a laser pistol in a holster at my belt. The other human, the real Jeremie whose body I was merely inhabiting, looked about the same. I guessed he hadn't had time to program a new look for that body.

He got up, and we faced each other. There was a short, thoughtful silence. At first it was tense, as we each waited for the other to make a move. When neither of us made to flee or attack, we relaxed. An unspoken message went through the air, saying, I may not know you, but I do know you're not an enemy, not anymore.

"The Scipizoa said to me in my head that he found out how to remove the language barrier on Lyoko," he said, abruptly breaking the silence. "We can understand each other now."  
"The Scipizoa? S-1?" I said, bewildered, although not unpleasantly so. "You actually got someone as powerful in the hierarchy as him to help you?"  
"It was his idea. He found me out."  
"Oh."

There was another short silence.  
"Well, let me tell you one thing," I said. "You humans have a really, really bizarre lifestyle. Me? I would rather get my own body back before I go completely insane."  
"Well, the life of a mechano isn't any picnic either. I don't know how any of you can stand it. It's so monotonous!"

There was yet another short silence.  
"But I'm sure you like your life a lot better than I liked it," we both said at the same time, and then we laughed.  
"Come, friend," Jeremie said, in a fake medieval voice. "It is time we got this mess over with."  
"Yeah. No hard feelings, right? This was all an accident, right?"  
"Right."  
"What about your friends?"  
"Oh, we can get them to listen long enough to hear us out."  
"Good."  
"At least, I hope so."

**Scipizoa's POV**

I could see the two of them coming along the path now, running as fast as they could. Just off to the side was K-129's real body, currently empty, and behind me were his friends. They looked up suspiciously when they saw the two running figures.

"Look there!" said F-723. "two humans at one o' clock!"  
"What do we do?" said B-356, starting to panic slightly. B-451 whispered a few soothing words in one of her sound receptors to calm her down.  
"We fight them, what else?" K-147 said.

"No." I said. They all turned to look at me. "Those two humans are our... allies." I continued. "You should take that path over there so that you can get between the enemy humans and the ally humans when they arrive. Then you will have a fight."  
"Are you sure, S-1?" said K-147.  
"Yes. Now do as I command."

I watched them fly, run, and scuttle off, then turned my attention back to the two running figures. It wasn't long before they were standing in front of me, panting heavily.  
"We're back," said Jeremie, managing a small smile.

"Very well then. First, give me that which you promised to bring me." I said. Unhesitatingly, he broughtthe cell phoneout of Herve's pocket and held it up. I took it in a tentacle, while K-129 looked at it in incomprehension, unsure of what the small metal object was.  
"Yes. This will do perfectly," I said.

"Now, I'm sure you both want to know how to return to your bodies. It's actually quite simple. Since K-129 is in Jeremie's body, and Jeremie and Herve are sharing Herve's body, K-129's body," I said, gesturing toward the Krabe body standing near the entrance to the tower arena. K-129 took a step back in surprise when he recognized it. "Is empty. Unlike on Earth, where bodies without minds are so much rotting tissue, on Lyoko, empty bodies are highly unstable half-codes. All it takes is for an inhabited body to touch it for the mind to flow from one body to the other. I'm sure you can work the next part out for yourself."

They did figure it out very quickly. K-129 stepped forward and laid a hand on the Krabe's leg, and, instantly, he was back in his body, and that left Jeremie's body empty. Jeremie, taking the cue, stepped forward and touched his own empty body, and his mind flowed into its correct place, whileHerve flopped, unconscious, to the ground, and devirtualized.

**Tetrox's POV**

I opened my eyes, carefully. My perspective had changed again, to a higher view. I did a quick inventory: three eyes? Check. Four, scythe-like legs? Check? Lasers? Check.

It was true! After nearly a week of being a human, I was home! I was back to normal!

"Thank you so much, S-1," I said. Jeremie also looked immensely happy to be back to normal. "Can we ever thank you enough for helping us?"  
"Heh heh heh," S-1 chuckled. "I wouldn't worry about that. After all, you've helped me immensely too. Too bad you won't be around to see the fireworks."

"Huh? What's that supposed to-" Jeremie began, but got cut off as a tentacle grabbed his leg and hoisted him into the air. Before I could comprehend what was going on, I was also grabbed by a leg, and held up into the air. I had no idea those tentacles could hold so much weight! We struggled against the tentacles holding us, but to no avail.

"I'm afraid your usefulness has come to an end, young ones," he said, with a newly menacing tone of voice. He drifted out onto the bridge, and held us over the edge. "Don't worry, this isn't anything special. Everyone else who helped me with this project was clueless from the beginning too, and they all met their ends, one way or another, just like you are about to do."

We continued to struggle, as panic gripped my mind over what was happening.  
"Have a nice swim." he said.

The tentacles let go. We dropped, screaming, into the abyss.


	12. Chapter 12: Stop!

Chapter 12: Stop! 

**Odd's POV**

With Aelita sitting at the computer console, Yumi, Ulrich and I made our way down to the scanner room, where Herve was lying unconscious in one of the scanners.  
"Hey! What's he doing here?" I asked, pointing at him while looking at the others. "I thought he was possessed!"  
"Me too..." said Yumi, perplexed and scratching her head.

"Guys!" Aelita's voice said, coming out of the speakers in the ceiling. "I managed to destroy the block on the elevator, so we can use it now. Also, the superscan is saying that there was an activated tower up until a moment ago, and that it just deactivated itself."  
"I thought Xana didn't need to activate towers anymore," said Ulrich.  
"Maybe it was my dad who activated it," said Aelita.  
"This is all getting too confusing," I said. "Aelita, can you just send us to Lyoko so we can figure out what the heck is going on?"  
"Sure thing. Just get Herve out of there first. We can leave him in the surface level of the factory for now. He's probably not going to be waking up any time soon."

Yumi grabbed Herve and dragged him into the elevator, while Ulrich and I got into the scanners. They closed on us, and all too soon, I had the familiar sensation of being virtualized.

**Sissi's POV**

"Get down!" I hissed at Nicholas, when we heard the sound of an elevator door opening. We had made our way into the old, abandoned factory which Ulrich and his friends had disappeared into. We flung ourselves flat, and peered over the edge of the floor, to look at the level below. There, we saw the elevator, and out of it came the unmistakable figure of Yumi, dragging Herve. Thankfully, she didn't notice us.

"There you go, Herve," she said. "Sleep tight." She added, with just a hint of a mocking tone. Then, she got back into the elevator, which closed and descended. As soon as it was gone, the two of us ran down the stairs and over to Herve.

"Herve! Herve! Wake up!" shouted Nicholas, kicking him a bit.  
"Ugh... where am I?" he said.  
"We're in an old abandoned factory on the outskirts of town." I replied.  
"What have I been doing? I thought I was at school!" He said, getting up.  
"You were possessed, by a ghost! And so was Jeremie, and his friends chased the two of you all the way here, and now they're down somewhere in the lower floors doing who knows what! We've got to tell someone about this before something horrible happens!" I said, all in one breath.

"Sissi," he said, annoyed, "everyone knows there are no such things as ghosts."  
"We heard the voice of Leon Corve that one time, remember?"  
"Oh, right."  
"C'mon! Let's get back to school. My dad will know what to do, and next thing you know, we'll have a SWAT team over here to deal with them."  
"A bullet couldn't hurt a ghost." Nicholas said.

I didn't say anything, as I was too embarrassed to admit that he had a point.  
"Can we just _go_ okay?" I snapped.

**Metra's POV**

"Look there!" I said, gesturing with a claw. Two humans were standing on one of the mountain region's platforms, watching a third human be virtualized and fall to the ground.

"Right. Let's show those humans that we are not the sort of mechanos to be messed with, right?" said F-723. At that moment, the arrow firer turned and saw us. He took a step back, then pointed us out to the others.

"What do we do?" asked B-356.  
"What the mechano always do! We fight them!" said B-451. He charged up a laser and fired it across the gap. The arrow firer dodged, then returned fire. B-451 quickly scuttled behind a rock to avoid them. The swordsman pointed out a pathway leading from their platform to ours, and the three of them started running toward us.

I stepped forward and fired my own volley of lasers, which were stopped abruptly by the swordsman's blade. F-723 flew up and circled them, avoiding the fans flung by the fan thrower and firing downwards. Nothing we did seemed to stop them, though, as they continued to run toward us.

The odds didn't look good. Four mechanos who had only been in battle once before against three very experienced humans who had doubtless killed plenty others just like us. The fact that there was a symbol on my back that practically screamed, "hit me here, this is where I'm vulnerable" didn't help.

The two Bloks ran up to either side of me, and we continued to fire.

What else were we supposed to do?

**Jeremie's POV**

Scream, scream, scream, scream, and, don't forget, scream. That's what most people do when they're falling down with no hope of survival when they hit the bottom. You can scream all you like, but it won't make you live.

I screamed anyway, as the wind whipped in my face. I could see K-129's falling form a little bit beneath me, tumbling through the air.

Suddenly, he stopped. Before I knew what was happening, I had smacked into his shell. I slid down the slanted surface, off the edge, and just managed to grab one of his front claws on the way down.

I looked up, and my two eyes met his three. I looked past him to see a narrow stone walkway, on which, by sheer, blind luck, one of his back legs had caught, leaving us dangling over the void. Quite literally, we were cliffhanging.

"Hey," he said, in a voice I knew all too well, seeing as I had been using it for the past week. "Isn't this how we met in the first place? Dangling over the void?"  
"Yeah," I replied. "Hold on, I've got an idea. Raise the leg I'm holding on to."

He did so, and then I lifted up one of my hands from its grip on K-129's claw, and grabbed a hold of the edge of his shell, which was in reach now. Using the bumps on his shell as handholds, I eventually reached the top, and scrabbled onto the safety of the rock causeway.

So far, so good.

**Yumi's POV**

I let loose a fan, and gritted my teeth in frustration when it just barely missed the Frelion's head for the umpteenth time. Either these guys were better than the average monster, or they were just very, very lucky. I decided to go with lucky, because I didn't think any of the monsters were different from the rest, and hoped that their luck would run out.

Ulrich was being hard pressed to fight off the lasers from two Bloks at once, and Odd was having trouble getting at the symbol on the Krabe's shell. All the Krabe had to do to get a clear shot was to bend down, and just now it scored a direct hit to Odd's chest.

"60 life points left, Odd," Aelita said.  
"Yeah, yeah, you don't have to keep reminding me!" Shouted Odd, as he fired another arrow, which missed again. The distraction was enough for the Frelion to be able to creep up on me from behind and shoot me in the back.  
"80 life points Yumi," Aelita warned.

I groaned. We were getting nowhere.

**Jeremie's POV**

"K-129," I shouted down, "try to get a grip on the pathway with your other back leg!"

He raised his leg and hooked it on the pathway. I took hold of it and heaved. Mechanical joints groaned inside K-129's body as I levered him up. It was easier than I expected. I thought he would weigh a ton, but he was able to do most of the work. Soon enough, we were both back on the safety of the path.

I let out a deep breath.  
"Right," he said. "Now what do we do?"  
"Well, we need to get back up there, find the Scip- did you hear something?"

We both listened, and the distant sounds of laser fire came clearly to our ears.  
"They're fighting..." I murmured.  
"What, NOW? Don't we have other things to worry about?"  
"Neither my friends nor your friends know anything about what's been happening to us. We have to get them to stop, before someone gets hurt!"  
"Do you see a way up?"

I looked around, and my vision finally rested on a path sloping upwards.  
"That way!" I shouted, and we ran off.

**Ulrich's POV**

Despite the lasers firing at me, I was gradually getting closer to the two Bloks that were doing it. It took too long for the Bloks to realize that I was too close and back up. I was just about to stab one in the eye when-

"STOP!"

Every single eye, organic or otherwise, swiveled toward the person who had shouted. It was Jeremie, standing next to another Krabe.

A million thoughts raced through my head at once. Why wasn't the Krabe attacking Jeremie? Unless he was still possessed... but the tower had been shut off! Or did that mean anything now...

"Please, stop, all of you!" Jeremie shouted. And then, to my stupidification, the Krabe actually _spoke, _and added, "We can explain everything! Xana and Franz Hopper aren't involved in this at all!"

I sincerely hoped that they were right when they said that they could explain everything, because my head felt like it was going to explode.

**Scipizoa's POV**

I drifted, unhurriedly, toward the edge of the sector, where I knew I could access a warp point back to Sector 5, and knowing that nothing could stop me now.

Very soon, the final piece would be in place.


	13. Chapter 13: New Allies

Chapter 13: New Allies 

**Jeremie's POV**

"So," said Ulrich, sitting on a rock. All of us, human and mechano alike,were sitting and standing around on the small mountain region plateau, and they had just finished listening to me and K-129 tell our stories.

"Let me get this straight," he continued. "When we made you have that training session on Lyoko, and you almost fell into the void, Aelita accidentaly switched you and K-129's bodies and devirtaulized him instead?"  
"Yup," I replied.

"And the two of you stayed that way for nearly a week without anyone finding out?"  
"Uh huh."  
"And then the Scipizoa figured out that you weren't really K-129, and we figured out that K-129 wasn't really you?"  
"You got it."  
"And _then_ you and the Scipizoa hatched a plan to get the two of you back into the right bodies, making you come back to Earth and possess Herve, and, when we saw that Herve was possessed, we thought that one was Franz and the other was Xana, but in reality, neither was involved?"  
"Yep."  
"And then, when you were both back on Lyoko, the Scipizoa switched you back, but betrayed you and dropped you into the void, and it was only by sheer luck that you were able to grab a ledge, survive, and come back here to stop us fighting before K-129's friends got hurt?"  
"That's the story, in a nutshell."

There was a short silence. "That's the most absurd story I've ever heard. C'mon, what's the truth?"  
"Oh, Ulrich," Yumi sighed, speaking up. "Like fighting a demonic AI every other week in a virtual universe _isn't_ absurd? C'mon, we've faced things just as weird as this. Remember the time Odd and I switched bodies?"

Ulrich looked pointedly at her. It was obvious by the look on his face that he knew she had a point, but didn't want to admit it.  
"Well, anyway, everything's all fine and dandy now, right?" said Odd, trying to spread some cheer. "We know the truth about the mon- mechanos now, so we don't need to fight them anymore, right? If all you're worried about is Lyoko getting shut off, we can ensure that it never does."

The mechanos nodded. To them, this was probably the best news they had heard in years. The possibility of ending the war peacefully had never really occurred to them before, but it was obvious now that the idea pleased them.

"Yeah," I said, absentmindedly. Something suddenly occurred to me. "But what about the Scipizoa? The last time we saw him, it sounded like he was planning something really sinister."  
"I'll see if I can find him," said Aelita's voice, coming down from above. "It looks like he's in Sector 5, heading for the mechano chamber."

"The question is, what is S-1 planning?" K-129 said. "There must be something we're forgetting." He seemed to think for a moment. "Wait... Jeremie, what was that small object you gave S-1 just before he switched us back and dropped us?"  
"Hm? Oh, it was a cell phone. The Scipizoa said that the only condition for receiving his help was that I bring him a cell phone from the real world, so I gave him Herve's. Why?"

I became uncomfortably aware that, even though I was no longer in a mechano body, I still knew how to read their emotions, and they were all staring at me in pure horror.

"YOU GAVE HIM A _CELL PHONE?_" B-451 practically shrieked.  
"Err... I get the feeling that there's something you're not telling me." I said, embarrassed under their horrified stares.

**Herve's POV**

"I'm telling you, it was that way!" Shouted Nicholas, pointing to the left.  
"And _I'm_ telling you, it was _that_ way!" Shouted Sissi, pointing to the right.

The two of them had been arguing for some time now. They had both followed Jeremie and his friends (and me, I suppose) down into the sewers, and had found that factory. But now, they couldn't agree which was the way back to the school. I had never seen the usually docile Nicholas argue with imperious Sissi... it seemed wrong, somehow.

"Can we just decide, already?" I moaned. "We're just going around in circles! We haven't even seen a single other manhole!"  
"Will you shut up, Herve!" shouted Sissi, whirling around to face me, and holding up a fist.  
"Okay, okay! Sheesh, it's not like we're going to be stuck down here for the rest of our lives."

We froze.  
"Did you _have_ to bring that idea up, Herve?" said Nicholas, slowly.  
"Oops. Sorry."

**Ulrich's POV**

"Hold on," Jeremie said. B-451 had just finished explaining to us the significance of a cell phone. "You're saying that for the mechano, a cell phone can be used as a, as a _mind control device?_"  
"That's what I said," said B-451.  
"But... but... how? That's the most absur-"  
"Don't even think about it, Jeremie," warned Yumi.

"It's okay," said B-451. "It's simple. Things like cell phones, TVs, radios- they all operate by receiving signals from an outside source. A cell phone can also send signals back. And the thing is, the signals the cell phone sends... they can cause... interference, with mechano brain waves. In short, all one has to do is speak a command into the phone, and any affected mechanos will automatically obey."  
"Are you serious?" Odd asked.  
"Dead serious."

"We thought they were unfeeling robots for so long, and we were wrong. But now they are going to actually be that." Aelita murmured.  
"But surely a single cell phone couldn't affect every single mechano." I said.  
"Not alone, no," said B-451, "but if S-1 has built something that could enhance the phone's power, then the results would be disastrous."  
"But why is the Scipizoa doing this?" Aelita asked. "He must have a reason, even if it's an evil one."  
"We'll have to figure that out later," Yumi said. "Right now, we have to get to Sector 5 and stop the Scipizoa. Aelita, can you figure out a way to stop the cell phone from affecting K-129 and the others?"  
"You got it."

"Well then, let's go!" shouted Odd, jumping up. "Oh, wait," he said, turning to the mechanos. "What are all of your names, again? I forgot."

The mechanos glanced at each other.  
"K-129."  
"K-147."  
"F-723."  
"B-451."  
"B-356."  
"Humph. Letters and numbers? I'll never be able to remember that. Besides, it's like naming yourself AK-47, or something like that. It makes you sound like weapons, or tools."

Odd thought for a moment.  
"I know! Let's give you some new names. Some cool sounding ones."  
"Odd," said Yumi, impatiently, "we really don't have time for this."  
"Relax, Yumi, this will only take a second. K-129, you can be Tetrox. K-137, you can be Metra. F-723, you can be Alcor. B-451, you can be Ezlo. And B-356, you can be Anda. Any objections?"

The mechanos looked at each other.  
"Tetrox... I like it," said K-129, oops, I mean, Tetrox. The rest of them just shook their heads to show that there were no objections.  
"Great! _Now_ we can go, Yumi.

**Scipizoa's POV**

A Kankrelat attempted a salute with one of its tiny claws as I passed it in the hallway of the basement of the central cone. I gave him a slight nod, to acknowledge his presence. I never really like the Kankrelats all that much, but at least they would be the easiest to control.

Stopping at a seemingly innocent section of wall, I pressed a tentacle against what looked like a brown stain. A panel slid up, revealing a number pad. I punched in the combination, and the wall slid up. I descended the stairs, down into my secret chamber, where my machine rested.

Without hesitation, I placed the cell phone Jeremie has so generously provided into its compartment, and went to look for the lever in the wall that would raise my creation out of the building, where it could get maximum coverage.

Scipi-Zilla was ready for action.


	14. Chapter 14: ScipiZilla

Chapter 14: Scipi-Zilla 

**Aelita's POV**

Even though I had lived in a computer for a good part of my life, I was never as good as Jeremie was at operating it from the outside. Nevertheless, even Odd could program the single command I was about to put in.

SCIPIO

I watched the computer screen as the white transport orb emerged from the digital sea and engulfed the assembled green triangles and red circles. In the work of a moment, the orb was screaming across the mountain region landscape, heading fast for the bright ball on the Lyoko map that held Sector 5 in it.

I worked the keys, trying to figure out a way to protect the mechanos from signal interference. I finally settled on a simple invisible shield that would change the frequency of any incoming signals, so they would no longer interfere. With a press of the enter key, it was done.

"Jeremie," I said, "are you sure that you want to stay there and help them?"  
"Yes, Aelita," came the voice from the computer. "I got us into this mess by giving the Scipizoa that cell phone in the first place."

**Jeremie's POV**

"Besides," I continued, "I know the mechano nests better than anyone else here."  
"Ahem," said several of the mechano.  
"Oh, right. Better than any of the humans, anyway."

We were in the arena, with the dome spinning above us, randomizing a route that would take any group who cared to go over to the interface that would have carried Xana's data, if he had still been here. Tetrox ignored it and went over to a section of floor and tapped it with a claw. Instantly, a panel sprung out of the floor.

"Hey! Since when has that been there?" asked Odd.  
"It's always been there," said Alcor. "It's just that you humans never found it. It calls up the elevator that allows us to descend from here to the mechano chamber."

Tetrox tapped several of the buttons on the panel, but all that happened was an annoyed-sounding beep.  
"Hey! What's wrong with it?" asked Tetrox, trying again. "The code's never been changed before!"  
"Perhaps the Scipizoa knew we were going to follow him, so he changed it," said Yumi. "Is there any other way in?"  
"Well, we can always go to the interface on the outside and change it again from there. Any passwords made on that interface supersede all the others," replied Metra.

The dome stopped spinning, and the exit of the arena came to a halt, allowing entry into the main art of Sector 5.  
"Really?" asked Odd. "Well then, no sweat! We're used to this!  
"Well, then, you have three minutes," said Aelita.

We dashed out of the sphere, the passageway seeming to widen to allow the wider forms of the Krabes through. When we reached the wall, it opened, and stairs formed leading downward. And downward... and downward.

"Hey Aelita," Ulrich shouted, "how far down does this passageway lead?"  
"You're almost at the end."

The floor leveled out into a hallway, and then we emerged onto a small platform on the edge of a giant pit. The blue walls around us stretched both down and up into blackness.  
"I spy with my little eye.." said Alcor cheerfully, "Well, what do you know! I spy an eye!" He gestured at the far wall with a wing, where the key, shaped like Xana's eye, as always, hung.

"Great," Ulrich said. "How are we supposed to get over there? Fly?"

The overwing materialized in front of us.  
"Sure, why not?" Aelita teased.  
Yumi, rolling her eyes, stepped on the overwing and took off, heading for the key.  
"Funny... you think there would be some sort of catch, some kind of trap." Anda remarked.

There was a low rumbling, and suddenly, two ton blocks started raining from the ceiling.  
"You just had to mention that, didn't you, Anda," Metra sighed.

**Scipizoa's POV**

I found and pulled the lever. There was a rumbling, and then the very floor started to rise, driven by the powerful puenematics underneath. Sure, raising the room out onto the roof meant breaking through all the rooms in between, but who cared about that?

Sheltered under my machine, I was totally safe as the floor came closer to the ceiling. The top dome of the machine pressed against it, then broke through. A few very startled Kankrelats fell out of the office above, as the hole widened, and soon enough, the floor above crumbled as my platform raised.

It happened again, and again, as my platform went up through floor after floor. Panicked mechanos ran everywhere, trying to escape, some falling into the pit made as the platform raised up higher.

I could imagine that in the main meeting room, the eight leaders of the eight nests stopped bickering, as what seemed like an earthquake rocked the building.

The top of the cone burst, my platform, with me and my machine, making up the new roof. I looked down, to see every mechano looking up at me in confusion.  
"Hey! Isn't that S-1 up there?" someone shouted.

If I had a true mouth, I would have smiled. Because I didn't, I merely settled for an evil sounding cackle. Without another word, I reached for the cell phone, attached to the machine by a cable. Then I reached over to the machine and pressed the "on" button.

Scipi-Zilla's dome lit up, glowing a deep green. The hundreds of long, scaly black metal tentacles lifted off the platform, raising into the air and stretching out straight in all directions. They started spinning slowly, and then faster, and then the tentacles started to glow green too.

Scipi-Zilla made a high, metallic screech, and suddenly, green waves of energy started pouring from the tentacles, each of them now a signaling antennae. No place was safe. They hit the mechanos outside first, then penetrated deep into the nests, thrashing into the mechanos there. They reached to hives on the ceiling, the outlying virtelm fields, everything.

The mechanos twitched, and then started screaming. Those who had knees fell to them, and those flying dropped out of the sky.

It lasted a full five minutes, the mechanical screams music to my hearing receptors.

When it was done, every mechano rose to their feet, eyes devoid of all light. Then, suddenly, their eyes and symbols flashed, and then started to glow a steady bright green.  
"We are yours to command, S-1." they all chorused, as one.  
"Excellent. Now, I need some guards for the entrances to the chamber. I'm expecting some... visitors." I said into the cell phone, holding it like a microphone.

Immediately, several groups of mechanos separated from the crowd below me, heading for the exits. I turned my attention back to Scipi-Zilla. It would take about half an hour for the machine to finish brainwashing the mechano completely, before the effects of the machine became permanent. Then I could track down Xana to present to him the army I had created for him.

In the meantime, I would have to make sure that those few mechanos still free as well as the humans didn't interfere.

**Yumi's POV**

"You have got to be kidding me!" I shouted, as giant blue blocks rained down from the blackness above, some just missing me and my frail overwing before dropping into the void below.

I swerved as hard as I could to avoid the falling blocks, heading all the time for the distant key.  
"You've got one minute left, guys!" Aelita shouted.  
"She's never going to make it." Odd muttered.  
"There's one heading right for you!" Anda screamed.

I looked up, to see yet another block heading for me. There was no avoiding this one. In a flash of inspiration, I held my hands to my head, calling upon my telekinesis. The block stopped right above me. Maneuvering on the overwing closer to the key, I was able to use the block as a giant umbrella to block other falling blocks.

"30 seconds left!" Shouted Aelita. "20 seconds!... 10 seconds!... 5 seconds!"  
I pressed the key. The rain of blocks stopped, and the last few fell into place, forming a bridge to the other side, where a door opened.  
"Yes! Yumi, you're a genius!" Ulrich shouted. I had to fight back a virtual blush.

"Right. Let's get going," said Jeremie. The others ran across the bridge. A short elevator ride later, we were standing in front of the interface. The platform seemed to widen here for the larger mechanos here as well.

"Wait a minute," said Odd. "How are we supposed to use the interface without Aelita here?"  
"Any mechano can use the system as well," said Ezlo, stepping forward to the interface. A purple beam went from one of his eyes to the interface, and he held it there for a few seconds.  
"Done," he said.

We headed back to the arena, and entered the elevator. It descended quickly, and left us wondering what we would encounter when we got there.


	15. Chapter 15: Man, Machine, and an Evil

Chapter 15: Man, Machine, and an Evil Jellyfish 

**Ulrich's POV**

"Look at that!" I said, pointing. We had just entered the mechano chamber, and were now standing at the crest of a hill that overlooked the entire complex.

It was sort of unnerving to see it. The place was full of gentle slopes, plants, and the organic looking cones of the mechano nests. Aside from the two hives on the ceiling though, the walls and ceiling were the normal blue blocks of Sector 5. The island of greenery looked out of place here. It was like being inside one of those reptile zoo exhibits.

I could tell that the rest of my friends were also awed by what was before us. Except, that is, for Jeremie. He had seen the place already, though, so I wasn't surprised. Instead, his and the mechanos' attention was on the groups of mechanos standing around, eyes glowing green, looking like the only reason they were there was to blast anything that even looked like an enemy.

"I bet that's the machine the Scipizoa's using to brainwash the mechanos," said Jeremie, pointing out a giant machine that looked very much like the Scipizoa himself, placed on top of the central cone and releasing green waves of energy.  
"Oh, you think, Einstein?" said Odd, sarcastically.  
"Who's Einstein?" asked Anda, confused.  
"Err..." said Odd, embarrassed.  
"This is no time for discussing human scientific history," said Yumi. "What we need now is a plan to destroy that machine. Anyone got any ideas? There are too many guards, and we don't want to kill them anyway."

There was silence for a few seconds as everyone thought.  
"I think I may have an idea..." said Aelita.

**T-52's POV**

I am T-52, a Tarantula. My current, given occupation by my master, S-1: Guard the entrance to the central cone, with my very life, if necessary.

I could remember having something called "free will". It sounds strange to me now, for it now feels like I have always done anything I am told, like a good machine should. In any case, the memories are spiraling away into oblivion, as my mind becomes more and more like the simple program it should be. I welcome the cleansing green waves, because I have been ordered to.

Now, I see five of our comrades, two Krabes, two Bloks, and a Frelion, eyes and symbols glowing the green of mind control, and leading, between them, four humans, who are bound with chains.  
"We have captured the humans who were attempting to thwart the master's plans," said the Krabe in front. "Let us in, so that we may take them to the dungeons."

I moved aside. Since all are under the master's control, there is no reason to ask the questions of why. They entered, and I resumed my duties.

**Jeremie's POV**

As soon as we were safely inside, with no monsters in sight, the green glow from Tetrox and the other's eyes and symbols faded, along with our illusory chains.  
"Aelita... that was brilliant!" I said joyfully. By programming the green glow into Tetrox and the others, they could pass as mind controlled, just like the others, no matter what they did, and with us looking like prisoners, we were able to waltz past all the guards without a problem.  
"Thank you," said Aelita, just a little smugly.

We were in the main hall of the central cone, which took up nearly the entire ground floor. Already, Tetrox was going over to a large square hole in the floor. There was a matching one in the ceiling above.  
"How do we get to the roof?" Ulrich asked.  
"Because the building is a cone," said Ezlo, "The top 100 feet are too small to be used for anything. Still, we should head for the top floor, but watch out for anymore guards. The 'we're leading you to the dungeons' excuse won't work if we're going up."

Creeping along quietly enough to make a real Creeper proud, we headed for the stairs, and made for the top floor. The only mechanos we encountered on the way up were a couple of Kankrelats, who were swiftly knocked out by being kicked against the wall before they could sound the alarm.

"This is almost too easy," said Metra as we advanced. In just a few more minutes, we were on the top floor, and burning a hole with lasers to get out onto the platform above, where the Scipizoa and his machine were waiting.

**Scipizoa's POV**

You probably think I didn't know they were coming. However, with Xana gone, I had... inherited his ability to see everything that happened on Lyoko. As they all climbed out of the floor, I didn't even bother to turn around.

"So. You're here," I said, with a disturbing amount of calmness. My eyes were not looking at them, but I was able to see them freeze in surprise anyway. I turned around and drifted over to them.  
"You probably think you're very smart, tricking my guards like that. It would seem like I have to train them better. But being here will do you no good. Have all those times you rescued Aelita from me not taught you anything? I'm indestructible!"

I drifted over to Scipi-Zilla and patted it with a tentacle. "And my machine is indestructible too. Go on, just try to attack it."

Hesitantly, Jeremie took out his blaster and shot a laser beam at Scipi-Zilla. The beam simply disappeared into blue ripples in the air just an inch off the metal.  
"Electromagnetic shielding," I said proudly. "The same kind that protects me."  
"You'll never get away with this, Scipizoa!" Jeremie shouted.  
"Oh, please. I've already gotten away with it, Jeremie. Look up."

They all looked up, to where all 1000 of the Frelions in Hivea Freliona were hovering, lasers charged and aimed.

**Aelita's POV**

"No! You can't shoot us!" shouted Tetrox.  
"Oh yes? Why not?"  
"Because... because... because Aelita has made it so that if we are hit, we devirtualize instead of explode, just like the humans! You can't kill us either!"  
I was about to say, "No I haven't!" but realized at the last moment that Tetrox was attempting a bluff.  
"And when we are all devirtualized," continued Tetrox, "We'll shut down the supercomputer, with you and your mechanical zombies still in it!"  
"You wouldn't," said the Scipizoa in a dangerous tone, his normally calm demeanor cracking slightly.  
"Yeah! We'd really like it if we could save the mechanos, butas mechanos ourselves, we know thatthey would ratherdie peacefully than be forced into being Xana's mindless slaves!"

**Jeremie's POV**

I watched in amazement as Tetrox continued to attack the Scipizoa, using words instead of lasers. I nearly forgot the presence of the Frelions above us, who could cut us down with a single word, simply drinking in the two mechanos' argument.

But then, he chanced a glance at me, and, I saw in that gaze a pleading. He couldn't keep it up for long. He was trying to create a diversion, but there wasn't anything to divert attention away from. He needed something drastic to happen. And he was counting on me to cause it.

Odd, Ulrich, Yumi, Metra, Alcor, Ezlo, Anda, Aelita... why wasn't he asking them? Did he know that there was something I could do right now that would help, something that they couldn't?

Desperately, I racked my mind for answers.  
_C'mon, Jeremie, think! You're supposed to be the smart one! You even designed your own Lyoko outfit with a veryspecific defense strategy in mind, right down to the electric shield special ability!_

_The electric shield!_

Could one electromagnetic shield counteract the other?

"Enough!" shouted the Scipizoa. "You're just wasting my time! Frelions, attack!"  
"CYBER SHIELD!" I shouted.

Immediately, a clear blue dome appeared around me, crackling with electric energy. It expanded, engulfing my friends, the Scipizoa, and the machine. Just like it had been intended to do, the shield completely blocked all those inside from the furious blasts of the Frelions. The Scipizoa whirled on me angrily.  
"FOOL!" He shouted, and shot out a tentacle toward me, it wrapped around my neck and squeezed, cutting off my air, choking me.  
"ARRGGHH!" the Scipizoa suddenly shouted, as a laser arrow thudded into his back. He dropped me, as Odd fired more arrows.

"It worked! His shield is down!" shouted Tetrox. "And if his shield is down, then the machine's shield is also-"

The others didn't need another hint. Two fans whirled through the air, slicing through the metal tentacles of Scipi-Zilla, while lasers thudded into the machine's body. One hit Herve's cell phone, smashing it to pieces. Electricity sparked from the machine, and fire erupted from several holes, and soon the entire machine was creaking and groaning violently.  
"NO! IT'S GOING TO BLOW!" Shouted the Scipizoa, lying on the ground, sparking with several holes from the laser arrows in his back.  
"What do you mean it's going to bl-"

There was a horrible, ghastly noise.

And the scilence that followed was deafening.


	16. Epilogue: Peace at Last

Epilogue: Peace at Last 

**Xana's POV**

I have been inactive for a long time now. I know when I will make my first move, but the time is not right yet. In the meantime, I wait. And I watch.

Since I am no longer bound to the virtual prison Lyoko, I thought that I would no longer need the mechanos as my minions. I continue to monitor the humans though, and it was through them that I became aware of the so called "Monster of a Problem", the incident where Jeremie and Tetrox switched bodies, and where the Scipizoa tried to hatch his own evil plot.

I watch the Scipizoa now, through the eye of a digital security camera. He is in the dungeons in the central cone, now, a week after the incident, one of the few places in it that survived the explosion of Scipi-Zilla. Tetrox and his friends would never have survived the explosion if Aelita had not programmed some enlarged vehicles for them at the last minute.

They were lucky that the basement dungeons survived, so that they had some place to put the traitor. I still don't know why the Scipizoa continued to want to help me after I left Lyoko. I thought that all the mechanos wanted was to protect their home.

I see Yumi and two Kankrelats through the lens. They enter the cell, Yumi with a tray of food. She sets it down, and then the three of them leave, leaving the Scipizoa to sit glumly in a corner of the cell to eat his meal. He looks up, and I see him nearly have a digital heart attack when he sees my symbol, glowing red in the security lens.

He raises a tentacle in supplication, with a pleading look. I nearly laugh. Why should I help him now? He wanted to prove his usefulness after his primary use became void; all he has proved is his use_less_ness. Besides, what kind of game did he think he was playing? I would have never accepted an army of zombies. Free will is what gave the mechanos what strength they had; the Tarantula guard that the Lyoko warriors tricked is proof of how easy it is to outwit a mindless opponent.

I can easily free him, but I will leave him here to rot, if a creature made of metal can rot, until I can find a use for him, if I ever do.

I suspect that I will not.

**Yumi's POV**

I walked out from the basement of the central cone, climbing the temporary stairs up to ground level. Here, I could hear the sounds of reconstruction clearly, as the mechanos hammered, sawed, and welded to rebuild the stricken central cone, which had been neatly leveled by Scipi-Zilla. I had no idea that a machine could explode with such force!

The two Kankrelats nodded to me, and then left to see to their own business. With the duty of feeding our prisoner done, I walked over to where Jeremie, Tetrox, and a few others stood, discussing the blueprints for the new central cone with several of the nest leaders.

"I'm telling you, that wing C needs to be over _here!_" shouted T-75, leader of the Tarantulas, pointing at a section of the blueprints.  
"And I'm telling _you _that wing C needs to be over _here!_" shouted K-250, leader of the Krabes, pointing to a different section.

Metra had confided in me that the leaders of the nests were always bickering amongst themselves over the littlest thing, and that, ironically, this meant all the rest of the mechanos got along well with very little argument most of the time.

"So, how goes the reconstruction effort?" I asked, coming up to the group.  
"Slowly," said Tetrox, one of the new "official heroes" of the mechanos (appointed to the new position by the nest leaders), with a slight smile. I had learned from Jeremie how to read the mechanos' expressions even when their faces were totally immobile. "But thanks for your concern. We really appreciate the help you've been giving us too," he said, gesturing over to where Odd and Ulrich were standing on two Krabe's backs to put some rivets in a steel girder.

"Hey, Jeremie!" shouted Ulrich. "We need more rivets! Can you get K-23 and Ralph to bring us some more? They're supposed to be doing that anyway, but they keep disappearing!"  
"The two of them are out over near Nesta Bloka, joking around as usual," said Aelita from the computer lab in the real world, where she could monitor everything that was going on.

Ralph was a Krabe. The idea of normal names instead of identification numbers had caught on somewhat, although there were still plenty of mechanos who had chosen to stick with the system, like K-23.

"I'll look for them in just a bit!" Jeremie shouted back, before turning back to me and Tetrox.  
"I've been meaning to ask..." I said. "Where do you and the rest of the mechanos plan to go from here? You no longer have to obey Xana, and you no longer have to battle us. What are you going to do?"  
"To be honest, Yumi, most of us don't really know. Fighting you has always given us a sense of purpose. Now that we have peace, well... well, maybe we can find something else."  
"Be careful what it is you do, though," said Jeremie. "I mean, just look at the Scipizoa. He took the loss of his sense of purpose harder than most, and look at what it drove him to do."  
"True, true, very true," replied Tetrox.

Jeremie looked up.  
"Aelita, what time is it?" he asked.  
"8:00 pm," Aelita replied.  
"We'd better go then. Start up the devirtualization process."

Jeremie then turned to Tetrox.  
"Well, we'll be seeing you," he said.  
"You'll be here at the same time tomorrow to continue to help, right?" said Tetrox.  
"Right."  
"Good. Oh, and Jeremie?"  
"Yes?"  
"Give me and my friends a call if you need help fighting Xana. You never know, and after all, we are still pretty good fighters."  
"I'll keep that in mind," said Jeremie, with a smile, as we devirtualized.

Jeremie, Ulrich, Odd, Aelita and I walked out of the factory and went home.

And that brings our story to a close.

I think. I get the feeling that I'm forgetting something...

**Mr. Delmas' POV**

"Possessed?" I said, raising an eyebrow, looking at my daughter and her two friends in my office.  
"Yes! It's true! Like by ghosts, or demons, or something!" shouted Sissi, continuing to rant.  
"And this happened to Herve and Jeremie a week ago? The same day we had to send out a search party to find you in the sewers because you had somehow gotten lost down there?"  
"Yes!"  
"I see. And if Herve and Jeremie were, as you say, possessed, then how come Jeremie hasn't come here to report this with you, like Herve did? Hmm?"  
"Uh..."

I shuffled the papers on my desk, the universal signal to my students that I was too busy to deal with whatever the current issue was. I only used it when I thought the students were trying to play a practical joke, because usually I was receptive anytime a student wanted to talk to me.

"Sissi, dearest," I said, "I think you and your friends had better run along now. I believe this has all been a product of you imaginations."

I stood up, walked around my desk, and ushered the three of them out of the room.  
"Now, go find something else to do. I am a very busy man."

I slammed the door behind them.

As I walked back to my desk, I heard Herve say, "Hey... I just realized something. Have any of you seen my cell phone?"

END


End file.
